The weekend before Thanksgiving the Malt Nuts gathered to celebrate cooler weather descending on Los Angeles in a way that befits the group: with peat. We’re working towards hitting our 100th tasting and 100th unique Caol Ila bottle on the same night and help us get closer to that goal we gathered to have a Teenage Caol Ila Tasting.
As always the bottles were blinded and broken into rounds which are below.
- Round 1: Cut Caol Ila
- Round 2: Cask Strength Caol Ila
No distillation year or cask type was declared for this tasting, just two very simple rules to get your bottle into the lineup. It had to be stated / generally known to be from Caol Ila and aged 13-19 years.
Round 1: Cut Caol Ila
Pre: Connoisseurs Choice Caol Ila 10 years: 46%
- Nose: Smoke, fruit and malty sweetness.
- Palate: Smoke, fruit and malty sweetness.
- Finish: Medium -> Smoke, fruit and malty sweetness.
- Overall: (2 / 5) Basic… super super basic. It hardly has any nose and the palate is thin.
1A: Signatory Caol Ila 13 years (03-16): 46% – Hogshead
- Nose: Honey, vanilla cupcake, mineral, smoke, malt, fruit.
- Palate: Orchard fruit, vanilla, smoke, malt, touch herbal.
- Finish: Long -> Buttercream, spice, smoke.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Oddly creamy and surprisingly fruity.
1B: Gordon & Macphail Discovery Caol Ila 13 years: 43%
- Nose: Lemon, honey, minerality, grassy malt, smoke, fruit.
- Palate: Minerality, lemon honey, herbal, grassy, fruit.
- Finish: Long -> Mineral, banana, herbal, grassy.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Lovely in a young way in that the minerality is coming through without being overpowering or spirity.
1C: Signatory Caol Ila 14 years (90-04): 56.2% – “Oak Cask”
- Nose: Mineral, honey, smoke, alcohol, banana, fruit, spirit
- Palate: Mineral, honey, smoke, fruit, herbal, acetone, spirit.
- Finish: Long -> Smoke, mineral fruit, acetone and spirit.
- Overall: (2 / 5) Young and spirity with a bit of solvent/acteone type notes to it.
Round 2: Cask Strength Caol Ila
2A: Chieftain’s Caol Ila 14 years: 55.9% – Hogshead
- Nose: Malt, fruit, spice, smoke, mineral, marshmallow, banana.
- Palate: Fruit, malt, spice, smoke, mineral, marshmallow, banana.
- Finish: Long -> Smoke, malt and fruit.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Interesting and fruity with water bringing out even more fruit.
2B: Adelphi Caol Ila 13 years (03-16): 58.9% – 301264
- Nose: Caramel, fruit, smoke, vanilla, meaty, banana.
- Palate: Caramel, banana, smoke, charred fruit, marshmallow, herbal.
- Finish: Long -> Smoke, buttercream, caramel.
- Overall: (2.5 / 5) Sweet and fruity and when water is added coconut emerges and takes over.
2C: Cadenhead’s Caol Ila 14 years: 54.4% – “Oak”
- Nose: Malt, fruit, hone, smoke, honey nuts, spice and herbal.
- Palate: Vanilla, smoke, char, honey nuts and herbal.
- Finish: Long -> Smoke, honey and mineral.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Smoky minerally fruity sweetness that turns even smokier with water.
2D: Signatory Caol Ila 12 years (06-19): 55.8% – Hogsheads (2 casks)
- Nose: Banana taffy, smoke, minerality, Bavarian cream, fresh doughnuts and malt.
- Palate: Banana taffy, smoke, minerality, Bavarian Cream filled doughnuts and malty sweetness.
- Finish: Long -> Banana and Honeycomb cereal.
- Overall: (2.5 / 5) Odd, never had a Caol Ila that tasted this much like cereal and baked goods. Very curious how it will open over time, good thing it ended up being mine so I can find out!
2E: Adelphi Caol Ila 14 years (03-18): 58.9% – 301267
- Nose: Honey, oat, vanilla cream, smoke, malt, fruit.
- Palate: Buttercream frosting, caramel, smoke and charred fruit.
- Finish: Long -> Buttercream, fruit and malt.
- Overall: (2.5 / 5)
2F: SMWS 53.218 Caol Ila 14 years (00-15): 64.4% – Refill Hogshead & ex-Bourbon
- Nose: Smoke, fruit, spice, melon, malt, lemon and tropical fruit.
- Palate: Smoke, fruit, spice, melon, apricot, malt, lemon and tropical fruit.
- Finish: Long -> Smoke, fruit and malt.
- Overall: (3.5 / 5) Simple but good, a better-than-decent Caol lla.
Did you notice something interesting about the second round? By the grace of pure serendipity, we ended up with two Adelphi Caol Ilas that were not only filled on the same day but were also only 3 casks apart. This was an amazing A:B to get the opportunity to do and see how different they were.
But the most interesting thing about these wasn’t the difference, but the similarity. During the blind tasting nearly everyone mentioned how similar they were and when the reveal came it was an unsurprising surprise.
They were so similar (buttercream frosting bombs) that after the reveal there was a 2 second “oh shit” moment where we thought we had the same cask. Once we looked at the labels a second time it turned into an “oh… shit” moment. The 13 yo is noticeably darker than the 14 yo which suggests casks of different type or quality were used yet they still retained a common essence that was easily picked up blind.
It ended up being a discussion point long after the tasting was over. We talked about possibilities of 2nd or 3rd fill sherry casks or zebra casks being used and most everyone took a second pour and we sniffed, sipped, examined, compared notes and discussed.
Moments like this are invaluable moments in a whisky education and can only be experienced. They’re impossible to be taught and is why experince is what it takes to gain expertise. You can’t just buy a fancy title and think it’s any form of substitute for time and experience.
See you at the next one, cheers!
