Caol Ila 11 Year (Berry Bros and Rudd)

 

Caol Ila is a fascinating distillery. Easily the largest facility on Islay, because it's mostly buried by Diageo the general public has almost no awareness of the name. The people I meet in bars who can even pronounce Caol Ila are few and far between. 

Yet since so much of the spirit gets sold off to independent bottlers (although that situation seems vaguely precarious, and a couple years ago there were rumors it might end or at least curtail), there are myriad presentations of Caol Ila, some of which are simply stunning. 

I've had some real winners from Caol Ila - a PX-matured bottle that was like liquid brown sugar ... a red wine-finished bottle from Douglas Laing/Old Particular that never made it to the blog here, FULL of flavor. Just a lot of winners. Even the pedestrian stuff - I've had a zillion ex-bourbon Caol Ila bottles from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, for example - is high quality. Yet it gets its lunch eaten on the regular by Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Bruichladdich, Kilchoman. 

This is a single cask bottling from Berry Bros and Rudd, purchased at their DC flagship store. Bottled at 57.8% after 11 years in ex-bourbon, here are the official notes: 

Caol Ila Distillery is near Port Askaig, looking across the sound of Islay to neighbouring Jura. The nose is initially gentle, offering traces of icing sugar and earthy smoke. With time to develop in the glass, the peatiness begins to show a muscular, coastal character. The palate gives damp wool, icing sugar, delicate floral notes, and more peat smoke. The finish is unmistakably Islay, fading slowly with flavours of kippers, tar and lingering smoke.

Pretty enticing description. Let's dig right in: 

Nose: Lemon, vanilla, big waves of peat, ash, beach bonfire smoke, sea salt, caramel. 

With a touch a water, it gets a bit medicinal on the nose: band-aids, iodine, a touch of tar, along with the above flavors. 

Mouthfeel: Silky, oily. Medium body. 

Palate: Earthy flavors dominate at first: wet gravel, salt, smoke, peat, cigarette ash, coal, tarry rope. Then, towards the end of the development: lemon, lime, vanilla. Like Sprite soda. 

Adding a touch of water reverse the order: citrus and sweetness come first, and get chased by the smoky, earthy notes. What a curious thing! There is also a floral layer here that chases into the finish. 

Finish: Dried flowers, lemon, ash, black pepper. 

Verdict: It's funny - when I first started drinking Islays, Caol Ila was my least favorite (solely through their official bottling), and I always got endless peanuts and peanut brittle from it. 

How times have changed! Now, through nothing but independent bottlings, I love it. I rank it above Lagavulin, most Ardbeg, and most peated Bunna. I find it both muscular and elegant, capable of really amazing flavors in both bourbon and sherry casks. 

This is one of the nicer/better bottlings I've had, although not quite at the top (which would be either the sherry-finished Blackadder or a tremendous Elixir bottling)  ... the lemon could be a little more forward, the maritime/saline elements might be a tad more aggressive, the sweetness a little brighter ... but that's just picking nits. This is lovely Islay whisky and well worth buying if that's your style and you like Caol Ila.