Caol Ila 30 Year

Tasting Notes

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: honeyed with some hay, lots of salty maritime flourishes, gentle earthy peat and tangerines and dried apricots; ashy.

Palate: salt hits first, then some ashy smoke, the fruits are close behind, followed by a surge of honey with some earthy peat bringing up the rear; more dried apricots and lots of white fruit.

Finish: long, oily and coating with fading honey and lingering salty smoke.

Comments: Dr.Nick, noses like goat shit on wet straw, (I think he means in the best possible way...).

92pts Serge @WhiskyFun.org

"Seven thousand six hundred and thirty eight bottles! Colour: gold. Nose: this is different. There’s some toasted oak, there is some coffee, there’s some charcoal, and there’s a very distant and almost elusive Caol-Ila-ness, which comes unexpected from the owners. What I also get, mostly, is a wonderful artisan cider, like they make in the best parts of Normandy. And old cigars (advance warning, that’s always a good sign). With water: it’s smoked cider of the highest order. I find it intriguing that Diageo’s First Nose(s) would have come up with such a profile. Mouth (neat): sweet Vishnu! This is implacable, sharp, acrid, oaky in a good way, mercurochromy spirit from Islay. Much bigger, powerful, and almost aggressive than expected. I even find it a little dangerous. With water: oh lovely. Smoother, gentler, civilised. Smoke and rosehips, I’d say. Finish: long, and earthy, and great. It strikes back. Comments: more a fight than a tasting. This aggressive old baby stands up to the taster. I’m bowing to the ground (of course not, they can…) SGP:357 - 92 points."

90pts Whisky Advocate

"More smoke than is common from this distillery and age. The aromas are food-related: initially roast ham with caramelized sugars, then a clambake, then oven-roasted lobster. With water, a distinct whiff of the goat shed (nice, by the way). The palate is refined and mature, but with fresh fruits retained, with oak and smoke beautifully integrated. A mature Caol Ila in similar vein to the excellent (and significantly more keenly priced) 25 year old. (7,638 bottles)"

Tasting Note from Edinburgh Whisky Blog

"Nose: A burned-out candle stuck to an over-polished oak desk. Soft passionfruit, raisins muddled up with cocoa beans and a minty accent.

Palate: A thin layer of grill smoke rises, swells and eventually, politely but assertively, fills the mouth. This is where the fun happens, it has the elegance of the younger expressions but there is body and maturity to it too. It’s not all thick and dark, mind you, a touch of kiwi and tangerine shone through for me and the finish closed the circle with that polished wood reminder and a new-found peaty energy.

Overall: It’s rather what you’d expect an old Caol Ila to be but I bet it will still take you by surprise. Just like a view from the top of a mountain can never be imagined, even if we know what we’re going to see. It’s an elegant whisky and a throwback to the bygone era. Unashamedly old school, packed with finesse and – drum roll – not priced with the oil baron in mind. The packaging deserves a mention too. It’s simple and sexy, just like Hoban."

www.edinburghwhiskyblog.com/