Slainte-Mhath
Caol Ila 12 Year
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
January 16, 2021 (edited November 30, 2022)
Many moons ago, it was a dram of Caol Ila 12 that ignited my passion for whisky, and what a journey it has been. Time to revisit my old friend! On the nose, puffs of twiggy bonfire smoke give way to green apples, lemon and briny hints of seawater. Heather honey, black olives and peppery oak spices drive the full-bodied and oily taste, always accompanied by well-integrated sooty salinity. Citrus fruits, subtle vanilla and complex tea notes linger in the long and peaty finish. I'm biased, I know, but this characterful Islay malt is still overlooked and underrated!
RATING: 4.0/5.0 stars ≙ 87 pts → FIRST-CLASS
39.0
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@cascode Thanks! It always puzzles me that Caol Ila is a Diageo distillery, given how good it can be. You can explore all these wonderful variations, be it peated or unpeated, official or independent bottlings, young or very old expressions. That is one of the reasons why Caol Ila is my top 1 distillery!
Great review, and I couldn't agree more. Caol Ila is a go-to and arguably a quintessential Islay malt. The stunning thing is also how much spirit they produce annually (over 6 million litres!), and how much of that is sold to independent bottlers. One of the great distilleries - and all run by a handful of staff 😲
@PBMichiganWolverine Yes, Caol Ila 30 yo (2014 Special Release) got the highest score I ever gave (95 points, my only 5-star-rating on Distiller). I have an unopened bottle which I keep for later, but I still got a sample which I will use for a side by side tasting when I open the 35-year-old.
@Slainte-Mhath that’ll be an amazing experience. Have you tried the 30?
@PBMichiganWolverine I am currently tasting the whole core range - I started with the 12 yo, next is DE, then 18 yo and 25 yo. For my 40th birthday in July, I will pop the cork of that Caol Ila 35 yo Special Release, so it will be in very interesting year comparing all these expressions!
@Slainte-Mhath caol Ila for me has always been reliably good...their 18 had been one of my favorites (haven’t tried anything over that age for Caol Ila )
Additional comment: I was afraid that I could be disappointed, tasting this whisky after such a long time. However, the quality is still very solid. I noticed some slight changes, but not necessarily for the worse. A consistently good malt, and one of the foundation stones of the Johnnie Walker range.
[comments below were copied from my old review back in January 2016]
Re-reviewed in 06/2017: Batches seem to be very consistent and the quality does still correspond to a solid 4-star rating. I knocked 2 points off, as I was a bit too euphoric when tasting and rating it for the first time in early 2016. With a more experienced palate, it becomes easier to assess the quality and score of a malt.
WHISKY OF THE YEAR 2016: After long and thorough consideration, I have decided that Caol Ila 12 is my personal whisky highlight in 2016. It's an affordable peated Islay malt, has an amazing character and proves consistently good quality across different bottlings. There are whiskies I have given a higher mark, but this is the one dram I always come back to. Best wishes and a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration to all you fellow malt mates! Slàinte Mhath!