Sunday, 15 January 2023

Caol Ila 2010 Cask Strength Collection 9 yo c. 316648

 
 
 
60,1°
Distillery : Caol Ila - Islay
Refill Sherry Butt
Independent Bottling 
By Signatory Vintage 
Limited Edition 
Single Cask 
Bottled in 2020 
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength
Peated around 35 ppm
 
 
 
This is one of 11 casks distilled on September 22, 2010 and sold to Signatory Vintage. All of these casks have been fully aged in Refill Sherry Butts for a similar length of time. This one was bottled on June 3, 2020, after 9 years and 8 months, and produced 657 copies. I have already tasted cask 316658, which I reviewed here. I can't wait to compare both, they can be very different as well as very similar.




Let's Taste It : 
Apricot-flavoured fruit pastry. Blood oranges, chestnut cream, cinnamon, baked apples. The smoke is discreet, serving only as a support. Still, it's full of soot. Fuel oil, coal. Airy peat. Tangerine compote, sweet woodiness, a square of milk chocolate. Iodine far behind. The sea lies beyond the hills. I can only guess at it. I take the opportunity to taste juicy orchard fruits: Comice pears, melons, yellow apples. Kiwifruit, lychees. The sky is grey. Dust and gravel. Mango. Satiny, silky on the palate, also bursting with stewed fruits, fairly well-managed spices, cardamom, paprika, saffron. Leathery hints. Liquorice stick and splinters. Long, tempestuous finish, it scrapes the coal, black earth, a bit dry, pastry stuffing. Fresh fig. Almond paste.
 
In Short, 
So I liked it a lot, it's very intense, fruity, creamy, and very Caol Ila. Bursting with variety of flavours. Only the finish is very slightly inferior, I would have liked something that moved a little more. The difference with cask 316658 is minimal, but in any case I preferred this one, more open, more frank, more honeyed. As for the price, if you can manage it, you can still find it at a decent price. What are you waiting for?
Score : 89
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :
 
                                           Màneskin - I Wanna Be Your Slave

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