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Feis Ile Diary #04: Caol Ila (landed in Glasgow)

By Tabarak Razvi

6.30 AM : Just landed at Heathrow's T5 and making a massive dash to Gate A11 to catch my connection to Glasgow. Border control is quite friendly. The chap gets even more chatty when he finds out the purpose of my visit to the UK is to basically drink lots of whisky. Turns out he's Scottish. Almost miss my connection thanks to his curiousity.

Caol Ila Day

9:00 AM : Check into my hotel on Hope Street in Glasgow. This location is fantastic! Just opposite Central Station with The Pot Still just around the corner. I'm tempted but even I know it's way too early for a whisky!

11:30 AM : Head out for a traditional Fish & Chip breakfast at a nice pub called The Sir John Moore. Absolutely massive pieces of haddock. Absolutely deep fried. Decide to chase it down with some interesting lagers. Had one which was brewed in Prague called Staropramen and another that was proudly Russian - the Baltika. Very tasty the both of them.

2:00 PM : After much walking around the City Centre sit down for some really tasty ciders from Sweden.

3:00 PM : Head back to the hotel for a quick nap. The last 20 hours of traveling and drinking beers have finally caught up.

8:00 PM : Rested and showered. Now heading out to the famed Pot Still bar to find my self a Caol Ila. Happy Caol Ila Day !

11:10 PM : What a great first day in Glasgow! Sauntered over to the famed Pot Still Bar - all 600 whiskies of it! Started the evening with a G&M Cask Strength Caol Ila. Distilled on 8th December, 2004 and bottled at an impressive 60.1% on 13th February, 2015 - so a fairly recent bottling.

Nose: Mild peat. Soft honey. Very sweet. Like a honey dew melon. Hint of milk chocolate. Like a Dairy Milk bar. Digestive biscuits. Green apples. Eucalyptus. Hint of of spice.

Palate: Woah! The cask strength really shines through. Savory spices. Like crashing head first into a spice cabinet. Clove. So much clove. Never experienced so much clove in a whisky ever!

Finish: Long. Oaky. That clove again.

Beautiful whisky this. The cask strength really makes an impression!