Caol ila 1990 13 Year Old Gordon & Macphail

Caol Ila 14YO Unpeated Sherry cask

I gave a sample of this out to a blind taster with the challenge of naming the distillery in three guesses. First quote was 'it's a Speyside isn't it?' Yep, this is rather different Caol Ila Needs water and then time to breathe though, the whopping 59% means the nose is overpowered when neat. It's a lightly floral nose with red fruit hints. Quite...

Score 74/100

Caol Ila 10 Year Old 2000 Archives

The well known community site Whiskybase launched its own shop recently. Not long after that, their first own bottles were released under the Archives label. I had previously tasted their excellent Littlemill, which made me decide to put all the samples I had received from owner Menno (thanks!) on my tasting table. First one to tackle is this...

Score 86/100

Caol Ila Gordon & Macphail Private Reserve Caol Ila 2001 Hermitage

Gordon & Macphail "Private reserve series", this is standard peated Caol Ila distilled in 2001 matured in bourbon casks and finished in Hermitage wine casks (Syrah). It seems that there are a few hermitage finished whisky in this series. I'm unsure if the particular whiskies are chose as ideal partners to the type of casks or if it...

Score 90/100

Caol Ila 21 Year Old 1990 Old Malt Cask

It really pays to clean out your sample cabinet from time to time. Look what I found… an old Caol Ila from the Old Malt Cask series from the era when the Laing brothers still ran the company together. This 21 years old Ileach from 1990 has been in the bottle for over 8 years already. Very aromatic nose on apfelstrüdel, pineapple on the barbecue,...

Score 88/100