[September, 2017]  What is better:  A batch that contains the flavours of many different casks or a carefully selected single cask release?  To check this I selected two 25-years old Caol Ila from the great 1984 vintage for a head-to-head namely this original bottling (OB) bottled May, 19th, 2010 and a Bladnoch Forum release (BF, WB id17481) with 52% abv.

Colour:  The OB is at old gold (but remember Diageo uses caramel to fix the colour) while the BF is at jonquiripe corn.  The texture of the BF shows medium fast legs and many small sticky tears.  The OB shows much slower legs and late fat sticky tears so its oiliness is better.  

Nose:  The OB offers a real great nose on lots of different aromas with adorable peaty, fruity, malty and spicy wooden notes and some OBFs.  It is very complex and beautiful balanced, one to sniff for hours.  The BF is more closed due to the abv but owns a peaty, malty and wooden profile too, just the fruits are shy in the background.  I like the OB more here.

Initial mouthfeel:  The OB instantly coats all of the mouth with a warming feeling, no distracting moments (just as the texture promised).  The BF is coating too (but less than the OB) and it has a slight drying feeling (metallic).  Again I like the OB better.

Taste:  The BF shows a peaty-barley sugary-herbal flavours profile that is somewhat layered and easy to sip.  The OB is truly multi-layered and multi-flavoured on the palate, very delicious.  I do not name all the different flavours but it adds nice chocolatey and honey-sweet notes to the peat and fruits.  This is simply "lecker".  I prefer the OB by several points.

Finish:  Both own a long finish that nicely vanishes in waves.  The OB is really sticky here and I still taste it even after minutes with all of its beauty.  No bitter or drying notes at all.  The BF adds more sugars to the finish and has no distracting moment either.  Nevertheless I prefer the OB again.

Water opens the BF up and the nose gets more complex as does the taste - now it comes closer to the OB and guess what, I like it best when reduced to about the same strength as the OB.  Water is not needed on the OB (it just gets flatter).

So this head-to-head showed a clear result:  A batch of many (good) casks provide a greater aromas and flavours variety and a more balanced profile than just a single cask (of course, it all depends on which single cask was choosen).  As all bottlings of the 1984 vintage of Caol Ila (that I tasted so far) were great the 2010 Diageo 25-year old should be and indeed is a stunner.  I tasted all later 25-year Diageo Caol Ila releases and they are good too, but this one is the best so far.

[May, 2017]  I had this dram during the First Annual Caol Ila Feis Ile Dinner (yes, this was the official name of it!) at the Ballygrant's Inn.  And I did it head-to-head versus the 30-years old (WB id 58218).

Colour:  Both have the same colour of old gold (yes, Diageo uses caramel to fix it that way).  The texture of the 25y shows some fast fat legs and late sticky tears.  The 30y shows early but very small tears and some late slow legs and fat tears.

Nose:  The 25y offers this adorable sweet and strong phenolic profile with maritime aromas and some nice OBFs that I adore, one to sniff for hours.  The nose of the 30y is more subtle but on the same profile.  Hard to say which one is better - the 30y is more complex and delicate while the 25y is more powerful and impressive. Finally I opt for the 30y.

Mouthfeel:  The 30y instantly coats the whole of the mouth with a slightly peppery feeling but without any distracting (bitter or drying) moments.  That is really good!  Surprisingly the 25y is smoother than the 30y on the mouthfeel but at least as much coating.

Taste:  A very mellow and complex sweet-peaty-phenolic-maritime profile on the 25y that is multi-layered, really excellent.  The 30y counters this with more punchiness (surprisingly) and a greater complexity of flavours adding more spicy and malty aromas to it than the 25y.  But again I like the 25y a little better (on a very high level).

Finish:  Both are very long with the 30y vanishing in several waves without any distracting notes.  Close to perfection it is (remember Yota)!  The 25y finishes a little shorter (just long, not very long...), but again without any flaws or off-notes.  This round wins the 30y year old.

Water is not needed on both (it does not really harm and smoothen the drams even further, but it takes away some power, too).  I am really blown away by the high quality of both drams, the only flaw is the drinker-unfriendly price tag choosen by Diageo for the 30 year old.  I am willing to pay as much as 250 Euro for the 30 year old - but not a single Cent more!

A great thank you to Slàinte Mhath and Feorag86 for this generous 700ml "sample" :-)
A good representative of the more matured and more rounded and refined side of Islay.

Start with a very relaxed nose. And when you think, 'was that now?' he opens up wonderfully and delivers beautiful "elderly" flavors. And that both in the nose, as well as on the tongue. I like it very much. Until recently you could find it for less than 100 €. Now he's getting dressed, but still worth his money.

A lovely mature yet still lively dram.

Solid Islay Malt.
I find the bitter note in the taste irritating, so no final evaluation yet.