Caol Ila
Fact Sheet
Founded: 1846
Current owner: Diageo
Stills: 3 wash, 3 spirit
Capacity: 3.6 million litres per year
Location: Caol Ila, Isle of Islay
Website: www.malts.com
Notable Facts: Caol Ila is the biggest of all Islay distilleries. 95% of the production go into blended whisky, notably the Johnny Walker range. Recognition as a single malt is steadily risingm though.
Report of my visit to Caol Ila Distillery
Bottlings
April 10, 2012
Quite a good dram overall, but I am not sure if putting it into an octave cask really improved it. – Rating: 85/100
April 1, 2012
Much of the peat has transformed into other aromas, especially on the nose, a very enjoyable dram. – Rating: 85/100
March 29, 2012
A nice sweetness adds to the peat and fruit here making this a Caol Ila with an interesting twist.- Rating: 86/100
March 15, 2012
The mild sherry influence adds a nice fruity and sweet twist to this Caol Ila. Water is not really needed here. – Rating: 86/100
January 22, 2012
The peat needs a while to cut through the sweet fruits. Quite a nice dram, but a bit weakish on the palate. – Rating: 83/100
January 2, 2012
Slightly unusual flavours in thie sherried Caol Ila, but it is a very nice dram with lots to explore. – Rating: 87/100
August 27, 2011
The nose requires water to reach full strength, the palate not necessarily. It is an excellent and rather ‘thick’ Caol Ila that feels a bit older than stated on the label. – Rating: 88/100
June 9, 2011
An excellent Caol Ila whose sweetness is nicely complimented by a slightly dry spiciness. Some fruity notes are there but they stay in the background – Score: 90/100
April 13, 2011
This Caol Ila is more gentle than the standard 12 yo, but it is far from being bland and boring. It is a nice introduction to the world of peated whisky, but it is not easy to find in some markets. – Rating: 83/100
March 15, 2011
The unusual herbal notes make this a rather unusal Caol Ila. But they are well integrated into a fruity and spicy mix of flavours. – Rating: 84/100
March 14, 2011
The sherry adds a nice and slightly sweet fruitiness to this Caol Ila. A fantastic and strongly flavoured dram that should be enjoyed in small sips. – Rating: 88/100
February 5, 2011
A very nice dialogue of the dry Caol Ila peat and the sweet moscatel sherry where none is dominating the other. – Rating: 86/100
December 29, 2010
Zinfandel running amok. The heavy finish even manages to overpower the peatiness of a young Caol Ila. If you like smoky Cassis, you must buy this bottle. I don’t. – Rating: 71/100
December 5, 2010
The tasting notes may look pretty generic, but this is an excellent example of a typical young Islay malt. Adding water shifts the flavours towards the spices. A brilliant whisky. – Rating: 87/100
October 21, 2010
This is a most enjoyable expression. Quite strong but not overwhelming peat combined with a nice fruitiness, rounded off with gentle spices. – Rating: 88/100
August 10, 2010
Even though it has no age statement, the Caol Ila CS is a significant step up in quality from the regular 12 yo. Very complex with a slight sweetness that works very well together with the peat. – Rating: 86/100
June 8, 2010
The terrific nose is backed by a sophisticated complexity of the palate that reminds me a little of Port Ellen. This malt is living proof that Caol Ila is capable of producing top class whisky. – Rating: 89/100
March 21, 2010
A rare Caol Ila entirely matured in a sherry cask. Very complex with a very fitting spiciness – Score: 87/100
July 27, 2009
Gives the impression of a tamed Laphroaig. Perfect balance of peat, smoke, wood and sweetness. Great stuff. – Score: 90/100
July 18, 2009
A nice alternative for those who don’t need a true peat monster – Score: 83/100
Mentioned in These Articles
May 17, 2012
A summary of the Scotch single malt blind tasting competition
March 9, 2012
Here is my selection of distilleries that let their whisky do the talking.
August 12, 2011
Somewhat fitting to this month’s poll topic about using whisky for mixing, I proudly present a cocktail made from 100% single malt whisky. This should get the seal of approval from the most die-hard critics, I hope…
June 13, 2011
Yes, I really mean it!
May 9, 2011
The first stage of my dramming adventures in Scotland led me to Glasgow
April 22, 2011
You would think that Scottish distillers know what’s going on in and around their distilleries. But anything happening beyond the distillery grounds seems to remain a mystery for them.
January 23, 2011
For a whisky blogger these days there are few things as convenient as joining the Diageo bashing game. But it often gets forgotten that many of their distilleries make a bloody good whisky!
January 1, 2011
Just before Christmas I was enjoying a celebratory dram or three with my old friend Keith Wood of Whisky-Emporium.com and as often happens after a few Drams and when the night draws in, we set about putting the world, or at least whisky world, to rights.
September 6, 2010
Among whisky lovers there is a constant debate on how whisky has changed over the years. It is not recommendable to generalize. And to answer the question prematurely: “Yes, but all of it”
September 5, 2010
Place of Birth: Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Place of Residence: Erding, Bavaria, Germany
Profession: Business Analyst, currently unemployed
Whisky Involvement: Reviewer and commentator
May 27, 2010
Some bloggers are obsessed with their site statistics, some don’t care at all, and I for one am somewhere in between. Every couple of weeks I dig deeply into my Google Analytics page to see what’s been going on on my blog. For those of you who are interested in website statistics as well, I [...]
May 23, 2010
No, this is not really supposed to be a tourist guide. In this article I would like to share my experiences of Islay that are not related to specific whisky distilleries. I had never been on Islay before, so I think the title is appropriate.
May 23, 2010
Port Ellen – when lovers of Islay whisky hear this name, tears of joy and sadness alike are likely to wet their eyes. This single malt has a reputation of being among the finest that Islay has to offer. But the distillery was closed in 1983 because United Distillers.
May 20, 2010
Many whisky lovers have stated that Lagavulin was their gateway drug into the single malt universe. This also is true for me. Probably the reason is that it is very different from standard blends or Glensomething supermarket malts but still has a certain roundness that is not as potentially off-putting to novices as other peated malts.
May 19, 2010
Caol Ila is a strange distillery. Although it is the largest on Islay it is overshadowed by most other distilleries in public perception, perhaps only with the exception of Bunnahabhain. Only since rather recently, Caol Ila single malt has come somewhat out of the closet and seems to be picking up momentum.
April 11, 2010
On April 10 the The International Whisky Competition (IWC) closed its doors. It was being held in Chicago where a panel of six high profile whisky experts judged 47 whiskies that had been entered into the competition.
October 13, 2009
In my last post about bastard malts I touched the question how difficult it is to recognize the distillery of an undisclosed malt. Taking this thought a step further leads to an interesting conclusion about cask management.
October 8, 2009
How do we react, when whe drink a malt that we don’t know what distillery it is from?
With the cheap supermarket malts this is not much of a a problem. You get a whisky that is just about drinkable, and it’s not really important to know if it’s from Glen X or Glen Y.
August 29, 2009
The result does not have much of a statistical value, but nevertheless the winner is not really a surprise:
August 20, 2009
When you plan to invite some friends to a whisky tasting there are quite a few things that should be considered. And there are some pitfalls you should avoid.
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