Nose: Smokey brine and vanilla.
Palate: Utterly delicious. Bonfire smoke and honey with a creamy vanilla custard.
Finish: Warming. Smokey and smooth with chocolate notes and hints of coffee. Dry oak.
Balance: Consistent. There is smoke everywhere but it's never over-powering. The creamy sweetness is always in the background.
I love this... really. It's not just the fact that it was under 30 quid a bottle (but it helps) - hard to believe for The Whisky Shop - but the fact that this is a lesson in how to blend two young Islay whiskies with great results. The salty smoke is there, you'd expect that of course, but so is a smooth creamy sweetness. This is mouth-watering. It's a shame that it's now discontinued and I'd like another bottle.
I suspect the latter. The Caol Ila seems tempered somewhat. I didn't know what either whisky was until I sampled in store. Got the Bunnahabhain in a flash. Caol Ila was the natural other choice.
I never heard of this, so I ran it through the ol' Google machine to learn myself up.
So it's a blend of Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain? Cool. Any idea whether the Bunnahabhain is peated? I'm wondering whether this is two peated malts working together or Caol Ila "tempered" with unpeated malt.