Caol Ila "Oh Man That's Great", Apollo 8, the Whisky Barrel exclusive

The Whisky Barrel, an online whisky retail store has released a collection of nice looking bottles, that honour the Apollo lunar missions. Of course, the space nerd i am, needed to taste them. I actually got my hands on 4 of this very limited bottles, and this is my first review on them. This is a Caol Ila, a 10yo expression, bottled in a 1st fill oloroso hogshead, at 56.4%abv. It commemorates the Apollo 8 mission, which was the first one to actually travel to the moon and circle back to earth. It is famous because the astronauts on the spaceship saw and took pictures of an "Earthrise" seen from the moon. That photo is the one shown in the label of this bottle, one of only 294 ever made. On the nose it is peaty and minty. Gooseberries, mint, permanent marker, Chocolate, Toffee and Aniseed. It has a rainforest profile, wet grass, swamp and hay. After a first sip, it released a humid aroma note. Orange, vanilla, perfume, and ashes. Wet paper. More sips gave me a metallic aroma cigarrettes and wet grass. On the palate it is a little normal, but still an interesting dram. An explosion of oranges, lime. Vanilla. It is like licking a battery. Toffee, condensed milk. Aftertaste is nice. Ashy with hints of Chocolate. Pepper, aniseed and peat. Earthy, it is a little metallic. Grassy; Tobacco and cigarrettes. Ginger and glue. Overall, i believe this is a good Caol Ila expression, without blowing anyone's minds. Caol Ila might be the most used whisky by independent bottlers, and it can actually change a lot depending on the casks used. The palate is not as good as the rest, that is why my score for it is a fair 88 over 100.