Jan-Case
Caol Ila 18 Year
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
September 2, 2020 (edited September 7, 2020)
One of my favorite bottles that I have is a 14y CS single cask Caol Ila from G&MacP. I only had some younger expressions from their core range which weren’t overly remarkable. So I wanted to see what the top of the core line has to offer.
Nose: gentle peat, familiar notes of Caol Ila, a bid weak intensity-wise but very delicious, nice creamy vanilla, smooth, some fresh orchard fruits, fresh crispy baguette. Not overly complex but delicious.
Palate: dry and lightly smoky, mild with a nice fruity sourness (apple juice), still creamy and smooth, butter-cookies
Finish: light ashy peat, still fruity sour with a slight sweetness, great combination of peat, sweet and heat.
It feels a bid tamed down with not as much Intensity that one would hope for. The nose and taste itself is very good though. It really looks like Caol Ila is best at cask strength.
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@Jan-Case Btw, ich bin aus Berlin ;-) Emigrated to Norway some 10 years ago, but I visit my family every now and then. If it wasn't for Corona, I'd probably be in Berlin and visit Whiskyherbst at this time of the year. Slainte!
@Jan-Case I'm with @LeeEvolved here, I just loved Caol Ila 18. The 25-year-old is even better value, but since Caol Ila is my favorite distillery, I am probably biased.
@Soba45 - the Caol Ila was the standard, Peated 18. They release a special edition that is unpeated and they aren’t special. My CI 18 bottles were older vintages but I can’t remember exactly when. As far as the Talisker 25, you need to make sure it’s cask strength. I believe after 2011/2012 they were blended down and the quality suffered. My bottle was 2011 and absolutely fantastic.
To add to the comments there is definitely variation on these older age statements. I've had a terrible Talisker 25 and a great one. A mediocre longrow 18 and a brilliant one. Glendronach 15 now vs 5 years ago etc etc. Now CI 18 doesn't go out of its way to create a different profile each year but I think over a long period there has been change. Lees brilliant sample was from a much older bottle. Was it 12 years @LeeEvolved ? Mine probably 5 or 6..I liked mine but it was a very good vs excellent. Who knows what the latest bottles are like....
@Soba45 - 😆
@LeeEvolved Depends which side of the fence you are on. I think it was an amazing success and extremely good value for money for me...haha :-)
@LeeEvolved well if you ever make it to Berlin - we do tastings with friends outside in a park every couple of weeks ;)
@Jan-Case - will do, I’ve slowed my sampling significantly over the last 9+ months so I’m awaiting colder weather as that usually raises my urge for the hard(er) stuff. If I notice a huge difference I will edit my review and adjust the overall score. But, I agree on shipping samples overseas- I’ve done it once and it was very expensive and there was always the worry that they would be lost, broken or seized by overzealous customs officials. It was ultimately successful, but I don’t think it was worth the costs associated with it.
@LeeEvolved man, I wish I could send you a sample of that cask strength single cask I have here, but you are on the other side of the globe and especially during these times I’m not even sure it would arrive. Anyway, when you pop the new bottle open maybe add a note to your old review how it performs now. Very interested in it. I just today received a sample pack from @Der-Duesseldorfer including a 11y Caol Ila Sherry cask finish from Signatory - I’m interested in how that compares to the Ardbeg Uigedail and the Laphroaig Brodir. All 3 of them I will review in comparison. Interesting stuff.
Great review. I agree that taste is all subjective and at the time this bottle stunned me- so much so that I ordered 4 more. I’ll be opening another bottle soon with tempered expectations, but fingers crossed it delivers the same way the first bottle did. Cheers.
"In terms of peatiness, phenolic transformation in the cask is probably at play here. Apparently the longer the ageing, the more phenols bond with other things to produce new compounds, e.g. phenylated carboxylic esters which taste like honey. I agree that at cask strength, or even 46% ABV, this would’ve made a more expressive bottling. Caol Ila 25 is also bottled at 43%.
@ContemplativeFox well this is highly subjective. If you look through the other reviews you find all the “big boys” rating it very generously. Including LeeEvolved who back when he tasted it put it in his top 3 whiskies. Other also are well around and above the 4.0 threshold. It is a good whisky for sure and while my rating settles a lot different to others here (4.0 is like the highest I can give to a whisky where I leave the last span to 5.0 to mindbending divine experiences ... those exist ... rarely ... but there needs to be some headspace especially because I am so new to the whole whisky hobby.) I just have that outstanding CS single cask that had the same qualities but is way more intense and rich and complex and just amazing. So it is hard for me to stay objective here without making a comparison but they both have the same identity but this one here has just less of everything. Oh and keep in mind ... everything starting at around 3.5 here is usually bottles I buy after tasting because they are great whiskies.
Almost bought this a few weeks back thinking it would be rich and complex. I'll have to be on the lookout for some IB CS Caol Ilas, possibly of younger ages.