Wild strength? 60+%? What I mean is that when a whisky surpasses 60%abv at time of bottling, there are two factors that always plays in as far as I'm concerned. As always, one of these are if it's any good? If yes, then all problems are solved. What I find if the answer should be no, then that whisky is often helped by a small drop of water, especially if it's an old whisky, or a whisky from a very active cask. But if it's what I call a "young & spirity" whisky, I most often find it to be no or very little help in dilution whatsoever. It's all down to the spirit. So I hope the two high strength 12yo's from Caol Ila finishing this tasting will prove to be very well made spirit, or they might take some water and prove me wrong anyway. We'll see.
Caol Ila 10yo 2000-2011 54.6% Malts of Scotland cask#309876
The youngest one, and the one with lowest strength in this vertical, from a bourbon hogshead. I know that there are many Caol Ila fans out there, and that it's one of those whiskies that's receiving high expectations when given at tastings. I have never felt too sure about it, it seems to be one of those whiskies that's neither nor, never fantastic, yet never disappointing. Maybe this will be different? Color of white wine, typical bourbon wood. The nose is burnt, citric, acidic, burnt cotton and high on drying fish and salt water steam. Coastal, in lack of a better word. The taste is drying, sour apples, lemon jelly, vanilla, pineapple juice and greasy chicken skin. A lot fruitier than what the nose suggested, with an almost fat and greasy finish. I'll add a few drops of water to see what happens. Now it turns worse, and even though this is perhaps the first glimmer of peat so far, the water makes it dirty, sort of glue-like and spirity.
A nice whisky, but there's no coherence between nose and palate: 5.5
Caol Ila 25yo 1982-2007 60.8% First Cask cask#741
I have not yet tried a whisky at cask strength from First Cask, but the ones that I have already tried have all been decent. It's rare to find bourbon-matured whiskies keeping above 60%abv after 25 years in oak. Distilled two years before my vintage... Good times. One that I've only purchased a sample of, a said to be, 3cl sample from whiskysamples.eu. Good stuff, but what kind of puts me just a bit off is that in my tulip-formed whisky glass which holds cl-measures, it barely reaches 2cl. This isn't the first time this has happened to me, but thankfully it's not the standard of whiskysamples.eu, which I most often find, are doing a very good job. But just so it's known, the level was about a third down from what it should be in this one. It smells sweeter and thicker than the MoS version, mahogany wood, honey, a bit rubbery, choriander, lime, ginger bread dough, fresh bakery, pleasant! The peat kicks in after a while and releases some smoked lambs meat and sweet korma (indian cuisine). Nothing much Islay-ish about this tasting so far. The taste is intensely citric, again grapejuice, lime peel, orange zest, more bitter than sour this time, and I think it's gonna need some water. With additional water it turns more creamy, the bitterness becomes more like a mustard bitterness, thick, vanilla, hints of guinness stout and ribs crisp (Norwegian christmas holiday traditional feast food, I just couldn't find a translation that fitted, but anyway, it's the crispy, salted and extremely greasy and fatty outside of the pork ribs). Anyway, it's thick, fruity, oaky and spicy.
A very nice Caol Ila: 6.5
Caol Ila 12yo 60.2% James MacArthur's
Why do I have this whisky after the rather higher in strength 25yo? I just gave you the answer, it was a 25yo. Most often whisky does tend to tame a bit when aged over such a period of time, and with such a small difference in %abv, I thought this might have a more expressive character. A nice light color, smells thick and dry, sort of like some salted butter biscuits and smoked parm ham. dry pork ham or sausages would be my guess if nosed blind and I didn't know it was whisky. Deceiving whisky!!! But ever so good, so far. The taste is sulphury, intensely, rustic, red paprika powder, cinnamon, cloves, beeswax, smoked herring, and intense ginger. Amazing, Old CS samples from James MacArthur's never seizes to amaze me.
Amazing old rustic and intense stuff: 7
Caol Ila 12yo 64.8% James MacArthur's cask#560
As you see, this is the second cask strength Caol Ila at 12yo and 60+%abv at this tasting, and they're both from the Fine Malt Selection... Dunno what that means, but I'm hoping this crazy strength will make all my dream come through, or at least this one, that is. And by the way, this one is from a single cask. Wait, I must say that, imo. you don't get an impression of a distillery tasting the 12, 15 and 18yo OB in one tasting, as they're all designed to fit a pretty big audience. I think, and I don't mean to sound as if I know it all, that you really get to a distillery's core and soul by trying a vertical of some likely and some unlikely whiskies by different bottlers, including some IB's of course. You will of course taste something good and something bad(not that good), but all in all you will see a much more widespread display of that distillery's capacity than what you do by just drinking standard original bottlings. Anyway, back to the tasting now! This one smells Mostly peppery and peaty, a pretty harsh presentation, The smoke is exceeded by the peppery notes, and it's almost a bit overwhelming. The taste is, if ever so peaty and spirity, quite dull. I think it needs some water(!!!). The taste now becomes more of a crossbreed between a peaty Islayer and a vanilla-infused Highlander. It's very fresh, sweet, thick and juicy whisky, but it has huge peaty note hanging on the backdrop. It seems I have been misguided by myself in my presentation of this session. This one is definitively better when diluted. That being said, it will never be a winner in my book...
It goes from mediocre to good when diluted, but for a single cask bottling: 5.5
Next distillery: Highland Park Distillery (Discreet Peat)
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