Caol Ila 18 Unpeated Style, Special releases 2017
"Port Askaig by way of Campbeltown"
9 989
Review by @cricklewood
- Nose23
- Taste22
- Finish22
- Balance22
- Overall89
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Either way it's been interesting to see this style evolve over the years but take note there will be no unpeated style Caol Ila in 2019!
Nose: Fresh fruit, apples, apricots, rich and a phenolic touch like the embers on a campfire. Very mineral, oyster juices and lemon with a green fruit and grass and a touch of engine grease.
Palate: Sweet, oily, juicy fruit chewing gum, stone fruit, some spicy oak & salted lemons. A bit of earthiness, tapioca/white chocolate, then settles on a slight fuel or kerosene note, salt & a bit of camphor or carbolic soap.
Finish: A touch of something like machine oil, super fruity, you can barely feel the heat, doesn't feel like 59%. Sweet and chewy oak a slight green feeling. Like tree sap. The feeling of something dirty and sweet.
Notes: This is pretty amazing, loads of porridge and fruits. A great texture, that slight peat, earthy, spice and sea shells. The oak is present, it makes it chewy. Smooth and full. A great dram. I kept thinking of Springbank while drinking this.
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I realized that poor editing in my part means I didn't include the first two paragraphs of my review. For anyone who cares here it is.
Introduced as part of the Special releases in 2006 with an 8 year old unpeated style Caol Ila, we've progressively seen older expressions appearing every year. Rumour has it the unpeated Caol Ila was created as a blending tool for the Diageo stable, it would not be surprising considering how much of the output of this distillery is used for blends and sold to brokers.
I would love to be able to try unpeated whisky from some of the other Islay set. I remember seeing a photo of the control room at Lagavulin and the board used to label the malt bins had one marked as unpeated?! Do they use it to do a few runs at the end before cleaning the systems or do they vat it together with the more heavily peated barrels to use in blends?