57,5°
Distillery : Caol Ila - Islay
Ex-Bourbon Hogshead and 1st Fill Pedro Ximénez Finish
Independent Bottling
By Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Limited Edition
Single Cask
Bottled in 2022
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength
Peated around 35 ppm
At the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a Scottish trading company created in
1983 by Pip Hills, they do not hesitate to make the most daring
experiments. Like this Caol Ila first aged in a Bourbon barrel, then
finished in a Pedro Ximénez Sherry cask. 227 copies were put on sale,
and sold out very quickly.
Let's Taste It :
Straight away, the full-bodied Sherry PX. I can smell the sugar, it's sticky, with crushed strawberries and pomegranate. The distillery profile remains in the background, with iodine and oysters, sea breeze and a bit of salt. Then the peat comes in, quite abrasive and thick. A fine marriage with the Sherry, it becomes marshy, charcoaled, with hints of papaya and morello cherry. Big puffs of smoke, interspersed with hints of fermented fruits. Genoise and embers, bacon and lingonberry jam. Very sweet on the palate, with raspberry syrup, followed by intense spices, nutmeg, cumin, black pepper. It's unctuous, like fruit purée. Gooseberries, candy. Uppercut finish, spices shoot and vanilla beans, caramel and fresh fig, intense charcoal, liquorice. Coarse salt. Pineapple juice.
In Short,
There's a lot of Sherry. This obscures the distillery's profile a bit. It's still very good, but what can I say? It's overpowering. It makes me wonder if they're really only putting whisky in there. This bottling caused quite a stir when it first came out, with some people fighting to get it because it was rumoured to be monumental. I would say that it has the advantage of being original, and that a Caol Ila lover can have the pleasure of discovering something, if not totally new, at least rare. Of course, it's all sold out now, and I don't even want to know how much it cost.
Score : 89
To Be Listened While Sipping :
The The - Beyond Love
No comments:
Post a Comment