Caol Ila 18 Year

After reading @LeeEvolved ‘s review of this, I simply had to open up the sample he graciously sent me. I should end this review with simply three words: Oh. My. God. But I’ll write a bit more. Light beach bonfire on the nose; followed by burnt wood, salinity, and charred lemons. I totally agree with Lee—-better than HP 18, or Talisker 18. Why the hell do we bother with other crap whiskey when a few of the classics such as this, Ardbeg 10, Springbank 10, and Lagavulin 16 suffice ? Quite simply—-it’s excellent, and at the price of <$100, a no brainer must buy. Thanks for this Lee!

The collector in me was attempting to slowly put together a nice, full set of the core range of Caol Ila malts over the last year or so. I’ve spent quite a bit of money on the higher end bottles, 25, 30 and 35 year old. I saw this 18 year online and laughted to myself when I saw the price: $84. What a solid deal, I thought. They priced this in line with Talisker. Cool. Well, I decided to open this bottle one night a few weeks ago just out of sheer curiosity. That and the fact I bought a second bottle recently- you don’t just bust up a core range set on a whim, y’know. Boy oh boy, was that a good decision... This Caol Ila should not be confused with the annual, limited release version that is made from unpeated malt. This is the true, core range peated 18: it’s bottled at 43% and has added color and filtration. This particular bottle was filled in 2008. It’s a beautiful sunset gold and appears very oily, with thin and fast running legs and heavy, watery droplets in the taster. The nose begins with a soft smoke- of the BBQ’d meat variety. There’s a heavenly blast of juicy, orchard fruits that seems to be stewing in a pan of sherry wine. There’s a hint of salty, seaside air billowing out of the glass as well. None of these notes overpower each other- in fact, they seem to be perfectly polite and allow each other their time to shine. Please sit with this whisky for awhile and let it work it’s magic because it’s very rewarding. The palate starts out very sweet. Apples, pears and the like roll across the tongue, followed by some rich peat smoke. Orange marmalade and light citrus begin to cut through the smoke and thick mouthfeel just in time to leave you tasting juicy, fresh-picked berries that have been dipped in sea salt. The smoke appears again to keep things from turning too tart and dry. This is the most pleasing aspect of this dram. It’s wonderful. The finish combines everything you’ve experienced so far: sherry sweetness, orchard fruits and smoke. The tail end shows hints of menthol before leaving behind a light, peppery bite. Overall, this malt cracked my Top 3 of all time. I went in expecting a solid dram and came away being absolutely stunned by this bottle. I even opened the Caol Ila 25 as I got towards the end of the 18, just to see if another 7 years did something even more amazing. Sadly, it didn’t advance on anything and I’ll even freely admit that the 18 is a superior dram to the 25 year old. Hell, I’ll even go so far as to say this is easily the best 18 year old whisky I’ve tried to this point. It’s better balanced than the Highland Park 18, more elegant than the Macallan 18, more subtle than the Talisker 18 and fruitier than the Lagavulin 16. It’s damn close to being the perfect dram. Factor in the sub-$90 price tag and you just can’t go wrong. Find a bottle or a bar with an open bottle (DO NOT MISTAKE THE UNPEATED VERSION FOR THIS ONE) and experience this one for yourself. It’s a perfect meld of sweet, salt and smoke. 5 perfect stars, my friends. I can’t recommend this one highly enough. Cheers.

Nose: Lots of peat smoke, some sherry-like oxidization Taste: Quintessentially Islay; honeyed low end with big salt and smoke Best with a little ice

à l'image de l'étiquette: distingué, discret, raffiné, respectable. Une réussite.