Caol Ila with a different touch of what I have tasted – and I love it.
Right after I opened this bottle of Caol Ila from Golden Drops who has it as an Independent bottler, I tasted some bitterness and my expectations lowered, actually I was a little disappointed -BUT! after some patience I was rewarded.

So my first advise is; Buy the bottle!
Next advice is; Open it, pour a dram and have patience with the first sip a least 20 min.

I do not recall ever having referred to a scent of tomato sauce in a whisky but that was one of these experiences I got. A lovely thick well spiced tomato sauce ready to be poured over a bowl of steaming hot spaghetti. Another scent that surprised me was what I will recall as Marmite – Yes the food spread made from yeast extract. Oh well it is a by-product of beer brewing and high i vitamins ๐Ÿ˜‰
It is this meatiness that for me makes a difference and that it brings other aromas into the picture than other more streamlined whiskies.

It started in a ex-bourbon cask and finished in a first-fill oloroso sherry cask for 2 years. The sherry is not over powering and mingles perfect with the peat smoked barley from Caol Ila and the sweetness from the American oak wood.

So if you like Caol Ila and want a unik Caol Ila taste you need to visit Golden Drops to get your bottle. Only 287 bottle were sendt to the marked – and Golden Drops have them all.

๐Ÿ…ต๐Ÿ…ฐ๐Ÿ…ฒ๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ†‚
๐˜ฟ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ: Caol Ila
๐˜ฝ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™š๐™ง: Cask 88 for Golden Drops Exclusive Spirits
๐™‰๐™–๐™ข๐™š: Single Cask – 8 Years Old – Cask Strength
๐™๐™ฎ๐™ฅ๐™š: Single Malt
๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ฎ: Scotland – Islay
๐˜ผ๐™œ๐™š: 8 Years old
๐˜ผ๐™ก๐™˜ %: 57,2
๐˜พ๐™–๐™จ๐™ ๐™จ: Ex-Bourbon hogshead (2012-2018) and Finished in 1st Fill Oloroso cask for 24 months (Nov 2018 – Nov 2020)
๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™˜๐™: Cask No.: 325872
๐˜พ๐™๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก-๐™›๐™ž๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™™: No
๐™‰๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™–๐™ก ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง: Yes
๐˜ฟ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ: September 17th 2012
๐˜ฝ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ: November 2nd 2020
๐™‡๐™ž๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™: Only 287 bottles
๐™‹๐™ง๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š: โ‚ฌ 93,-

๐Ÿ…ผ๐Ÿ†ˆ ๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ…ฐ๐Ÿ†‚๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ…ธ๐Ÿ…ฝ๐Ÿ…ถ ๐Ÿ…ฝ๐Ÿ…พ๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ…ด๐Ÿ†‚

๐Ÿ‘ƒ: Thick Ashy peat, tomato sauce, sweet marmit, hints of green grass, tobacco leafs, slight coconut, grilled pineapples – maybe on the burnt side, butter

๐Ÿ‘„: Creamy and dry, smoke notes are meaty, some dry grass, vanilla, a little ripe banana peel, blooming apple flowers, a touch of sea salt.

๐Ÿ˜‹: Medium to long. Actually some of the smoke notes keep hanging for quite a long time. The smoke notes are tar ashy, umami and peppery with a nice tinkle on the front of the tongue. Just a little wood feel after some time. A touch of sherry.

I added ยฝ teaspoon water – after all it is 57,2% and it calmes down a little, not that it needs it in my opinion. On the nose it becomes more medicinal but it keeps the lovely saucy meatyness in both nose and taste. The taste mellows in the smoke and open more of the grassy and wood notes.

๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™จ๐™ ๐™ฎ: ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ (5/6)
I really enjoy Caol Ila and this one has given me a new angle on what Caol Ila can do. Nice sweetness from the years in the ex-bourbon cask and a spicy touch, dryness and fruitiness from the sherry cask. A really fine combination.

๐Ÿ…ผ๐Ÿ†ˆ ๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ…ฐ๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ…ธ๐Ÿ…ฝ๐Ÿ…ถ ๐Ÿ†‚๐Ÿ†ˆ๐Ÿ†‚๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ…ด๐Ÿ…ผ

๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ – ๐™€๐™ญ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ค๐™ง๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™จ๐™ ๐™ฎ – ๐™™๐™š๐™›๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™– ๐™ ๐™š๐™š๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง
๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ – ๐˜ผ ๐™—๐™š๐™–๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™›๐™ช๐™ก ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™จ๐™ ๐™ฎ – ๐™Š๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™๐™š๐™ก๐™›
๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ – ๐™‚๐™ค๐™ค๐™™ – ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™—๐™š ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ๐™™๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™ง๐™–๐™ข
๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ – ๐™‰๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™—๐™–๐™™ – ๐™„’๐™ก๐™ก ๐™™๐™ค ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™™๐™–๐™ฎ
๐Ÿฅƒ๐Ÿฅƒ – ๐™„๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™›๐™ช๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™ข๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ค ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ
๐Ÿฅƒ – ๐™‡๐™š๐™ฉ’๐™จ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฉ

By Whisky Adventurer

Behind the name Whisky Adventurer is Lars Modvig Hesselberg. In short, I enjoy immersing myself in all aspects of the whisky world. I enjoy the stories, the people, the scents, the development, the taste, the variety, the big ones, the small ones, the distilleries and much more. Telling and passing on knowledge and experiences through speech, writing and pictures is a big part of the whole experience for me.