Caol Ila 1996 17 Year Old Signatory Un-Chillfiltered Collection

Caol Ila New Make Spirit

Having a soft spot for new make and then getting hold of a sample of spirit from your favorite Islay distillery? Well, double whammy! This new make is not commercially available, but I will nevertheless gladly share my thoughts with you. Very clean nose on raw barley and – don’t laugh – peas and carrots from a tin. The Scots call this ‘two veg’,...

Score 80/100

Caol Ila 26 Year Old 1983 The Perfect Dram

This Caol Ila 1983 from The Perfect Dram was bottled a decade ago. The release was 240 bottles strong, at cask strength. Great bronze color, by the way. It must have been a very active cask, for the distillery character of Caol Ila is totally unrecognizable on the nose. While I deplore that a bit, I cannot deny that this nose is absolutely great....

Score 90/100

Caol Ila Distillers Edition 2003

I've generally liked Caol Ila and found this bottle at the LCBO (Caol Ila doesn't get here very often). As I have an older 1997 DE, thought we could do a little compare and contrast. These releases are finished in Moscatel wine casks. My bottle has been open for a couple of months. The colour is a medium-light gold. On the nose we have smoked...

Score 77/100

Caol Ila Gordon & Macphail Private Collection 2001 Hermitage Finish

Bottled 2015, one of G&M’s private editions where they decided to try finishing Caol Ila in a Hermitage Cask. Having never tried hermitage wine, I thought it would be a fun adventure. Batch size of 3600 bottles. Nose: Sweet and fruity (think strawberry jam fruity) smoke. Islay brine. It’s a relatively heavy nose but yet it seems to have...

Score 89/100