46°
Distillery : Caol Ila - Islay
Refill Hogshead and Barbados Rum Finish
Independent Bottling
By Douglas Laing & Co.
Limited Edition
Single Cask
Bottled in 2024
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured
Peated around 35 ppm
Selected by La Maison du Whisky to be part of the new Foundations collection, this Caol Ila was aged for 5 years in a Refill Hogshead, then finished for 2 years in a Barbados rum cask. It produced 237 bottles, sold almost exclusively on the French market.
Let's Taste It :
Nose full of ashy smoke, grit and metal, slight dampness, but also a lovely fullness of icing sugar, juicy pear, coconut, cane sugar. White fruits, grainy cereals, oil and tar. On the palate, hints of vanilla and soya milk, perhaps papaya, ripe banana, lychee. It's fresh and slightly unctuous, punctuated by perennial spices, cloves, nutmeg, pepper. Agave, reeds. The finish is fairly long, herbaceous, mangrove-like, thick peat, a dash of aniseed, a few drops of honey, then it becomes earthy.
In Short,
The combination of the ashy peat typical of Caol Ila and the rum from the Barbados is quite successful. The nose is full-bodied, the palate is pleasant, and the finish is decent despite the reduction. The result is a pleasant curiosity, which I recommend to fans of the distillery, at a relatively high but affordable price.
Score : 88
To Be Listened While Sipping :
Sam Fender - Peaple Watching
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