Caol Ila 19 Year Old 1996 Douglas Laing Old Particular

Douglas Laing bottled this 19 year old Caol Ila in their Old Particular series. The refill hogshead yielded 313 bottles at a cask strength of 51,5%. It appeared on the market in December 2015. The nose is a wonderful mix of smoked bacon, ashes and plasticine against unripe banana, lime and a truckload of aniseed. It is surprisingly sweet on the palate with vanilla, banana, lime and some peach, before the peat kicks in. Midpalate it turns quite dirty (which I love) on ashes, tobacco leaves, cloves, white pepper and some kitchen salt. Again loads of anise, which I find surprising. I don’t think I’ve ever had that with a Caol Ila before. The finish is medium long on vanilla and ashes. Another excellent Caol Ila (is there any other?), thus firming up it number one spot on my favorite Islay malt list.

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