Category Archives: Caol Ila

Caol Ila 12, “Unpeated”

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Caol IlaCaol Ila, like a number of its Islay brethren, is known for its peated malt. The distillery, which has a tremendous production volume, has apparently also produced for quite some time an unpeated “Highland” variant of its malt for Diageo’s blends, and a few years ago this unpeated Caol Ila began to appear among Diageo’s annual special releases. As far as I know, there have been in this series three releases of an 8 yo (2006, 2007, 2008); one of a 10 yo (2009); two of a 12 yo (2010 and 2011); and most recently a 14 yo (2012); and another is expected this year.

I am tasting the 12 yo from 2010 today, and it is not my first time. Tonight’s tasting is of a reference sample saved from a bottle that perished a while ago. I can tell you before I begin the review proper therefore that as “unpeated” malts go, this is pretty peated. I don’t believe there’s been official word on this but consensus on the WhiskyWhiskyWhisky forums seemed to be that having been distilled at the end of the distillery’s season it likely picked up a peaty character from the pipes etc.; it can’t be from residual peaty spirit in the wood as the label says this is from first-fill bourbon casks. Whatever the reason, this is not the Caol Ila “Unpeated” to go to if you really want to taste an unpeated Caol Ila. Continue reading →

Messing with Texas: Blending Brimstone, Pt. 2

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Brimstone Blend 2

Half of this was saved for later.

So, my first blending experiment with the Balcones Brimstone that I despise (Batch BRM 11-10) worked out really well. Mixing half an ounce of the Brimstone with one ounce of the Longmorn 16 took out the most offensive raw wood notes of the Brimstone and mellowed it out nicely. Of course, I’m not stopping there (and not just because my Longmorn 16 is much closer to the end than my Brimstone). The goal tonight is to add more citrus/acid fruit to the blend and also some phenols.

Tonight’s recipe:

.5 ounce Brimstone
.5 ounce Longmorn 16
.5 ounce Glen Moray 12
1 ounce Caol Ila 10 (Signatory UCF)

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Caol Ila, CI1 (Speciality Drinks)

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Caol Ila Elements of IslayYet another Elements of Islay bottling from the Whisky Exchange, this time the first Caol Ila bottled for the series, the CI1. I think the series is up to CI5 at this point, but this is the only one I’ve had. I don’t have a lot to say other than I know from previous experience that this will reverse my recent run of disappointing Caol Ilas.

Let’s get right to it:

Nose: Very tight at first, as you might expect given the very high abv. But lemon, olives, oyster liquor, brine all peep out from under the alcohol. A little later quite a bit of coal and phenolic smoke. The alcohol gets a little overpowering now. The lemon gets quite pungent as well, and with more time there’s a fruity sweetness and later still a lot of citronella and ash. I must say time mellows the alcohol burn a fair but let’s see what water does. Well, it makes that citronella explode and brings out a creamy, almost buttery note.
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Caol Ila 1980-2011 (Samaroli)

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Caol Ila 1980-2011, Samaroli
After a somewhat disappointing young indie Caol Ila a couple of nights ago, here’s a much older one from one of the most famous names in indie whiskydom: Samaroli. This Italian bottler is well known to those of us in the US who entered into our whisky mania via visits to Serge Valentin’s Gilded Palace of Whisky Sin, I mean Whisky Fun. Its allure came both from the high scores their bottlings routinely receive from the redoubtable Serge and from their unavailability–unlike other “exotic” marques like Silver Seal or Moon Import, Samaroli is not usually available from the stores in the UK and EU I have access to thanks to the kindness/patience of travelling friends. Hearts were therefore set aflutter in the US when they unexpectedly entered our market a little over a year ago.

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Caol Ila 10, 2000 (Signatory UCF)

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Caol Ila 10, Signatory UCF

Does anyone really need to see this photograph? Probably not, but there you are.


Caol Ila, as I have noted before, produces a very high volume of whisky, and so there tends to be a lot of it floating around from independent bottlers. Despite this and the fact that Signatory is among the more ubiquitous independent bottlers available in the US market, I don’t believe I’ve seen too many Caol Ilas from Signatory. I hope you appreciate this anecdote which is both deeply uninteresting and quite possibly an inaccurate representation of reality. Accuracy and trenchant commentary you can get anywhere–it’s the rare blog that can give you completely useless information.

In that vein:

Caol Ila 10, 2000 (46%, Signatory Un-Chilfiltered Collection, refill hogshead; from a sample received in a swap)

Nose: Green apples, cider, and then sharp, minerally peat. Then we have ozone and wet stones. Gets a little musky but stays acidic. Some salt too. A hint of pepper (capsaicin) too.

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Caol Ila 25, 1978

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Caol Ila 25
Of all of Diageo’s better-known distilleries, Caol Ila, on account of its high production volume, would perhaps seem to be the most insulated against sudden price increases and/or general monkeying around on account of allocation issues. Yet, the annual 25 yo release has been reduced from cask strength to 43% as of the 2010 release (which qualifies both as general monkeying around and as a price increase, as they haven’t reduced the price along with the abv). While the entry-level 12 yo still seems to be holding the line, one wonders how long that can last. The advice I have been giving all my non-whisky geek friends is not going to be news to whisky geeks: if you like any of the Diageo malts a lot, you should sock ’em away now before everything goes through the roof or goes NAS (“No Age Statement” aka “Very Young”). The Talisker 18 jumped from $80 in most US markets to $140 last year, and I fear that the Lagavulin 16, Clynelish 14 and Talisker 10 can’t be far behind (especially now that there are not one but two new NAS Taliskers out; and the Talisker 25 has also been reduced from cask strength to 45.8%).

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Caol Ila 10, 1996 (G&M)

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Cao IlaAnother Caol Ila. This one, however, is a little bit unusual. As I noted in my previous Caol Ila review, the vast majority of Caol Ila is matured in bourbon casks (barrels or hogsheads constructed from broken down barrels). From time to time, however, sherry cask-matured Caol Ilas are available, usually from independents. I am not sure what the source of these is. One would think that if Caol Ila is maturing such a small fraction of its malt in sherry casks then that whisky would be reserved for their own needs. It is possible, of course, that independent bottlers might have the spirit filled into their own sherry casks. But as far as I know, only Gordon & Macphail (who are the source of the bottle I am reviewing tonight) still have these kinds of filling contracts; and at any rate, I have no idea if this is how this whisky came about (and suddenly I can’t remember if I have seen very many sherry cask Caol Ilas from anyone but Gordon & Macphail). If anyone can shed any light on this issue (specifically or more generally) please write in to the comments.

And now, on to the whisky, which was distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2007, and is a vatting of three refill-sherry butts:
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Caol Ila, 1980 (BB&R)

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Caol Ila is one of two Islay distilleries owned by the Evil Empire of Scotch, Diageo (Lagavulin is the other). It somehow maintains the kind of goodwill usually reserved for small, plucky craft distillers, despite operating at an industrial level and literally pumping out millions of liters of spirit–mostly for Diageo’s blends. Almost all (if not all) of Caol Ila’s spirit is tankered off Islay and matured and bottled in a central location in the Highlands (this is true of almost all of Diageo’s distilleries)–so much for the romance of terroir. However, as I say, Caol Ila’s reputation is strong and this is because their whisky is very good (and it’s worth remembering that almost all whisky is essentially an industrial product).
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