Caol Ila 1977 Bottled 1993 Moon The Sails in the Wind Moon Import

Caol Ila Distillery Exclusive 2017

When I visited the Caol Ila Distillery in September 2017, the new Distillery Exclusive was poured. It is the first time that Caol Ila used whisky that has matured on red wine casks. ‘Wanna try?’ the visitor center manager asked. ‘Is that a trick question?’ was my reply. And yes, after trying this one, a bottle disappeared into the hand luggage....

Score 88/100

Caol Ila 1998 Distillers Edition

Nose: sweet peat. Not a ton of smoke in this one. The peat is thick with a sort of mothball sweetness to it. Not the most complex Islay aroma but it is nice and clean. Taste: a little thin on the tongue, but it arrives with much more smoke than was advertised in the nose. There is a sweet vanilla sheen to it, though the wine casks certainly don't...

Score 85/100

Caol Ila 12 Year Old

My second bottle of this 12 year old OB and whilst I didn't rate that last bottle here, I enjoyed it immensely and would have rated it high 80s ( I think I drank it, with the help of my Mum, in under a month). I picked this up recently and thought it would make a good peated whisky for the summer months. Review is neat. Nose - Herbal, slightly...

Score 86/100

Caol Ila 12 Year Old

So, my first whisky review ever, here goes. Nose: A warm tingle. Sweetly-bitter. Very citrus-like. Grapefruit juice, caramalised lime zest simmering in a pan, lemon jam. A hint of burned rubber and peat, but still quite fresh and crisp. Some subtle complexity. Body: Oily but light - like virgin olive oil. Leaves long tears on the glass. Taste:...

Score 85/100