Caol Ila 11 Year Old 2009 Watt Whisky
Pineapple
3 587
Review by @markjedi1
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall87
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A new independent bottler has appeared! We all know Mark Watt from his days at Cadenhead of course, but he has recently gone solo with a brand new… err… brand – with a little help from crowdfunding. Watt Whisky, or more officially the Campbeltown Whisky Company Ltd. The first casks have just been bottled and can be found at your local liquor store. The first one I try – the rest will follow, be assured – is this young Caol Ila. I simply couldn’t wait…
Aha! Wonderful nose on wet rocks, chalk, fresh crab, woodsmoke and some vanilla, but the top note is unmistakably pineapple! After some air a gust of sea breeze appears and the peat becomes more outspoken. Some band aids and lime appear. Nice.
Pretty oily with lots of soot, vanilla, sea salt and pepper that precede the citrus fruit, while the pineapple is pushed to the back. You can actually taste the sea! It evolves towards a textbook example of Caol Ila, just the way I like it: clean, chiseled and salty.
The finish last and last, is very smoky with both a sweet and salty note.
Sturdy fellow, this Caol Ila. And while it is a safe bet, for Coal Ila never disappoints, I’m happy to have added this bottle to my cabinet. Bring on the winter!
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Great review as always. I think Caol Ila is a wonderful distillery in its own right. It's a shame so much of it is used as blending fodder by Diageo. The unpeated (and some of the peated) expressions have plenty of tropical fruits (as you aptly noted) and I always get a delectable sour green apple note at the tail end of the finish.
Sounds like a fantastic example of Caol Ila. Do you think the price of IB Caol Ila has increased significantly in the last couple of years?