LeeEvolved
Caol Ila 18 Year
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
April 5, 2019 (edited February 14, 2021)
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.
84.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@LeeEvolved - :)
@Rick_M @Soba45 - I’m not sold on the fact that Rick is kidding. I bet his cellar is stellar.
@Soba45 - only kidding! :)
@Rick_M wow good purchase. :-)
@soba45 - I had buyers remove after spending $15k for the Yamazaki 50 two years ago. I guess it wasn’t a bad decision after all. :)
@LeeEvolved Yeah I'm wondering if the 08 version you had had a good dollop of old stuff and the recent versions aren't quite as good. The version I had I really liked but no where near as mindblowing as yours sounded.
@Rick_M Crazy! It'll all come crashing down at some point.
@LeeEvolved @Soba45 - whisky craze is an understatement. Front page article yesterday in the Wall Street Journal on Japanese whiskey. Yamazaki 50 recently sold at auction for $430,000. A full set of a Hanyu playing card edition sold for $913,000. Japanese restaurant in San Francisco selling shots of 27yo Mars Komagatake for $529.
@Soba45 - I’ve noticed that as well. If I had to guess- the recent craze in whisky (of all types) has forced distilleries to ration out the older, better whisky to preserve stock until newer casked stuff comes of age. They also apparently have to infuse the younger stuff with better or older whisky to make it more palatable. Just like I said from my recent Laphroaig 2012 Cairdeas review- back 7-8 years ago, distilleries weren’t afraid to infuse a $65 festival bottle with two decade old stock. They weren’t selling out instantly and seemed more intent on making the whisky as good as could be for the diehard fans of the day. Oh, how times have changed- a lot of places now just want shelf space and will put out some mediocre to borderline undrinkable hooch. This is of course just my $0.02. Cheers.
Interesting in head to head reviews the older variants (2002) seem much more interesting and complex than the recent ones (2015). https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/47393/caol-ila-18-year-old
Great review! I really enjoyed the 18, my later filled version wasn't as good as yours but will have to have another crack to see if I hit the golden egg like you did :-)
@LeeEvolved Since your bottle is from 2008, it will be rather difficult to find that same batch. I could imagine that a lot of batch variation happened in the past 10-12 years, and that not every batch reaches the peak. I hope my bottles are equally good :)
@LeeEvolved Fantastic review. Caol Ila has been my #1 distillery for a long time, and the variety of their bottlings is simply superb. Got two bottles of the 18yo in my collection, but haven't reviewed it properly yet.
Great review. This one is now on my wish list.
@Generously_Paul I think that’s exactly it..we underestimated it.
@PBMichiganWolverine @LeeEvolved I need to find this. Sounds amazing and priced insanely cheap on the market considering what you get back in return.
I would have never guessed that a Caol Ila would make your top 10, let alone your top 3! Can’t wait to try it, and get a bottle of my own.
@LeeEvolved oh and I just remembered...you sent me a sample of this in the most recent care package...I’m so having this tonight.
Top 3 is high praise. I need to try this one
@LeeEvolved - BTW, great review!
@LeeEvolved - ok, I’m convinced. Time for me to give this bottle a fair shot.