Scotch Whisky reviews

Laphroaig has released a special, limited edition bottling every year since 2008, named Cairdeas. For those not fluent in Gaelic, "Cairdeas" (pronounced "CAR-chiss" or "CAR-chase") means "friendship".…

Nose: lots of bright, heady aromas here. Juicy tangerine, candied lemon peel, dried mango. Underneath the vibrant fruit there is brown sugar and butterscotch. Sparkling, clean, and malty.Taste: soft…

Boy, oh boy another one of those very young and very strong Caol Ila, this time from the stables of Signatory, bottled in those mighty decanters from the Cask Strength Collection. They are a pain to pour…

Cooper’s Choice (a label from the Vintage Malt Company) launched this NAS Caol Ila early this year. It matured on American oak before being finished on an oloroso sherry cask. Will you look at that color…

This single sherry hogshead of young Caol Ila was bottled for the 15th anniversary of WIN – Whisky Import Nederland – and yielded 295 bottles at cask strength. My buddy Marcel from Holland sent me a…

Some 10 years ago, you could buy this 30 years old Coal Ila from the Bladnoch Forum for less than 250 EUR. A decade later, that has become quite unthinkable. So I’m happy to have been able to score a…

I remember naming a Caol Ila 26 Year Old 1982 Rare Auld from Duncan Taylor ‘on of the best Caol Ila ever tried’ way back in 2013. Today I’m trying one from the same bottler in the same series, but it’s…

A Caol Ila of a quarter century old! For an official bottling, you’d have to give up your left kidney, but this one used to be available from the Bladnoch Forum for a very fair price. It was only 150 EUR…

I have tried many a good dram from Caol Ila, but the Feis Ile releases are always excellent. So I was very happy to score a sample of this 12 years old for the Islay Malt & Music Festival 2017. It is so…

Purveyor to the royal household Berry Brothers from London often puts out malts under their own label, like this young Caol Ila from 2000. It was bottled especially for Whisky Import Nederland in 2011…