https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2021/01/20/swag-whats-in-your-cupboard-december-2020/
N: Besides the general coastal salty barley sweet~sourness, we’ve rugby balls, violin bows, sheepskin handbags,… What more could you want for? Fabulous! We all seem to love this.
T: That’s Caol Ila for certain, arriving perfectly on a savoury sour barley salty oily bed. There’s discussion over how this struggles at 43% abv, but I disagree. It’s more in context of what’s gone before – four SMWS drams for starters – but here, we’ve beautifully subtle effortless movement and with nothing lacking.
F: The refined gentleness/softness is most welcomed/desirable, particularly now we are eight drams in. Despite the abv assault which has preceded this one, the complexity/layers of this Caol ila are not lost – salty dry oily apple-y layers. Even at 43%, there’s a gentle freshness,… apple flesh-fresh, and plenty more besides.
C: Yet another reminder of how consistent fabulous Caol Ila is. Is this Distillery Edition worth nearly twice as much as the standard 12yo? Both are excellent in their own right though I’ve found the standard 12yo has slipped in the last few years [WLP81]. Oh, I see I’ve tried this distillery-only bottling before, at Feis Ile 2018 [WLP84]. It’s easily a mark or two higher today, likely because this bottle has had time to open up.
