Caol Ila 15 Year Old 2002 Valinch & Mallet

I tried this 15 year old Caol Ila at a festival in Antwerp a few weeks ago. I was sold from the get-go. It was the best thing I tasted that day. Owner Davide Romano and I spoke about Valinch & Mallet for quite a while. He founded the company in 2015 and is not very well-known in my neck of the woods, which is sad as so far I have only tasted very good things. I am more than happy to try Caol Ila once more. It matured on a sherry cask that yielded only 319 bottles in 2017.

The maritime and medicinal notes that are so familiar in Caol Ila can be found here as well, but the whole is wrapped in a jacket of yellow plums, sweetened butter and earthy notes. Caramelized charcoal. Prunes, dades and camphor round things out. Warm and inviting nose. Caol Ila on sherry works like a charm. The body is very oily, the dram immediately dark, sweet and smoky. Oh, my God, this is good! Ashes and burnt wood go hand-in-glove with caramel and dark stone fruit, upholstered by spices like nutmeg, cloves and pepper. A hint of brown sugar and some eucalyptus emerge. Very layered and nicely balanced but above all divine in taste!

The finish is long, sweet, spicy, smoky. In one word: delicious.

Davide, like I said to you when we met at the festival: this one is outstanding! I cannot recommend it enough. Top dram, great choice. I will gladly spend 125 EUR on this ‘enjoy whisky’.

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