Not having had the time to have a good dram in weeks, I finally got the time and opportunity this week. Caol Ila. I had brunt myself with an island sounding name two weeks back – “Isle of Jura” which neither tasted like an Islay malt nor like a whisky I’d go back to. More on it later.
May be because I was having a runny nose (which my wife attributes to Swine flu) and craved medicines, or may be because it is a real good whisky, I liked it a lot.
Notes — Sea, peat, smoke and iodine. A bit watery at first, but gets drier in the end. Pretty neat.
Tags: caol ila 12 yo
November 11, 2009 at 06:07
Is your hip flask always full these days?
November 11, 2009 at 19:09
Liver infection. Full with Liv 52 actually.
November 12, 2009 at 14:50
Oops; take care.
November 22, 2009 at 18:53
[...] Caol Ila’s single malts have an unmistakable profile, distinct from other more famous Islay’s like Lagavulin. Lighter in a low viscosity oil kind of way, seaweed and iodine are common elements with smoky phenolics taking a back seat. This 27 year Duncan Taylor offering had notes of pine sol and wet stone; it felt like my nostrils were being disinfected. A browned butter element mingles with the seaweed and iodine on the palate and hits the back of your mouth in a chemical freight train, a noticeable wave of intensity on the top of the palate that vanishes suddenly after swallowing, leaving a very faint trace of spirit. I kept asking myself after every sip – how can such strong varnishy oil flavours disappear so quickly? An 8 year unpeated Caol Ila tasted alongside was rather lighter but with the same abrupt palate intensity/falloff. A memorable experience, it seems to me that Caol Ila probably has a loyal following that the rest of us don’t quite understand. I found other profiles and reviews at Whisky Notes, Malt Madness, Edinburgh Whisky Blog and Empty Hip Flask. [...]
March 7, 2010 at 12:36
hello sir. followin ur blog for some time now… jus wanted to drop a personal query. with a name like yours, was wondering abt ur origins…. is this kind of like a pen name?