Caol Ila

  • Thread starter Thread starter BJ
  • Start date Start date
B

BJ

BJ
All this talks of Picts and Scottish got me going.

Had Caol Ila 12 year last night for the first time. Really lovely Islay, very light in color, grassy, hay, peat, a very light on its feet Islay but with all the smokey and peaty aspects you'd expect. Nice aperitif style. Perhaps some similarities to Bowmore, but lighter. A really nice Scotch for the hip flask for that walk through the leaves in the fall.
 
originally posted by Brad L i l j e q u i s t:
Caol IlaAll this talks of Picts and Scottish got me going.

Had Caol Ila 12 year last night for the first time. Really lovely Islay, very light in color, grassy, hay, peat, a very light on its feet Islay but with all the smokey and peaty aspects you'd expect. Nice aperitif style. Perhaps some similarities to Bowmore, but lighter. A really nice Scotch for the hip flask for that walk through the leaves in the fall.
Click to expand...

Have to agree....less harsh than some Islays (like Laphroig) but still very interesting...interestingly I have never seen anything but the 12 yr version of this one..
 
originally posted by drssouth:
originally posted by Brad L i l j e q u i s t:
Caol IlaAll this talks of Picts and Scottish got me going.

Had Caol Ila 12 year last night for the first time. Really lovely Islay, very light in color, grassy, hay, peat, a very light on its feet Islay but with all the smokey and peaty aspects you'd expect. Nice aperitif style. Perhaps some similarities to Bowmore, but lighter. A really nice Scotch for the hip flask for that walk through the leaves in the fall.
Click to expand...

Have to agree....less harsh than some Islays (like Laphroig) but still very interesting...interestingly I have never seen anything but the 12 yr version of this one..
Click to expand...
They have an 18 year old that in Norway is priced only slightly above the 12 year, as well as various cask strength issues, of which I had one small glass last night..
 
originally posted by Odd Rydland:
They have an 18 year old that in Norway is priced only slightly above the 12 year, as well as various cask strength issues, of which I had one small glass last night..
Click to expand...

The unmanipulated cask strength-versions have been great. I remember buying these some years ago. I think what was sold then was 10 and 11 years old versions.
 
originally posted by Arnt Egil Nordlien:


The unmanipulated cask strength-versions have been great. I remember buying these some years ago. I think what was sold then was 10 and 11 years old versions.
Click to expand...
Yep, there's lot of spoofing in whisky, I hate all those special editions...
 
originally posted by drssouth:
originally posted by Brad L i l j e q u i s t:
Caol IlaAll this talks of Picts and Scottish got me going.

Had Caol Ila 12 year last night for the first time. Really lovely Islay, very light in color, grassy, hay, peat, a very light on its feet Islay but with all the smokey and peaty aspects you'd expect. Nice aperitif style. Perhaps some similarities to Bowmore, but lighter. A really nice Scotch for the hip flask for that walk through the leaves in the fall.
Click to expand...

Have to agree....less harsh than some Islays (like Laphroig) but still very interesting...interestingly I have never seen anything but the 12 yr version of this one..
Click to expand...
Yes Laphroig is to most malt whisky as Lapsang Souchong is to most tea and certainly an acquired taste - or not as the case may be. OTOH sometimes it is just right.

My taste in whisky is as catholic as my taste in wine although I do like some more than others including some blended versions.

Two Orkney malts that are IMO both interesting and attractive are Highland Park [multiple ages and some specials] and the much less well known Scapa which has had a more up and down history but seems to be flourishing once more.
 
originally posted by Yule Kim:
Anyone have an opinion on Ardbeg? It is almost always the priciest bottle on the shelf. Worth the premium?
Click to expand...

Yes.

You might search for the old Islay thread, which covered much of this in great detail. Though that's never kept us from rehashing before.
 
originally posted by nigel groundwater:
originally posted by drssouth:
originally posted by Brad L i l j e q u i s t:
Caol IlaAll this talks of Picts and Scottish got me going.

Had Caol Ila 12 year last night for the first time. Really lovely Islay, very light in color, grassy, hay, peat, a very light on its feet Islay but with all the smokey and peaty aspects you'd expect. Nice aperitif style. Perhaps some similarities to Bowmore, but lighter. A really nice Scotch for the hip flask for that walk through the leaves in the fall.
Click to expand...

Have to agree....less harsh than some Islays (like Laphroig) but still very interesting...interestingly I have never seen anything but the 12 yr version of this one..
Click to expand...
Yes Laphroig is to most malt whisky as Lapsang Souchong is to most tea and certainly an acquired taste - or not as the case may be. OTOH sometimes it is just right.

My taste in whisky is as catholic as my taste in wine although I do like some more than others including some blended versions.

Two Orkney malts that are IMO both interesting and attractive are Highland Park [multiple ages and some specials] and the much less well known Scapa which has had a more up and down history but seems to be flourishing once more.
Click to expand...

And, for thread consistency, I will point out are the two single malts made by Vikings and not Picts if I remember my Orcadian history properly!

Highland Park is absolute tops and I do love the obscurity of Scapa as you say. Scapa certainly is a scrappier whisky but seems to fit the locale...
 
originally posted by Brad L i l j e q u i s t:
Highland Park is absolute tops and I do love the obscurity of Scapa as you say. Scapa certainly is a scrappier whisky but seems to fit the locale...
Click to expand...

The 12 yr Highland Park is a fave these days. Very good value. I think I learned about it here.

I haven't picked up an appreciation for the peat monsters, yet. The excessive peat seems like too much oak on a wine.
 
My first exposure to Caol Ila (in 2006? yes) was like running over a cliff. Good, then becalmed with boredom. I wonder how it's drinking now. (This is why I read you Thread.)

... Springbank. Because the 10 year old is as fine as I need Scotch to be. Grassy. Peaty. Honeyed.

I'm sure I've missed some discussion on Hudson Valley barley and their other mashes.

Toasting with week-opened 2000 Roagna Paje, from an Uncork New York glass.

Keep working.
 
I've been much enjoying the compare/contrast (always poured in pairs, I mean) between Caol Ila 18 and the Unchillfiltered Collection version of same (which actually might carry a vintage date, not an average age...can't remember, and my Scotch is a long ocean away at the moment).

I slightly prefer the latter, on a regular basis, and have confirmed this single-blind. Not that I want to turn my whisky drinking into work.
 
originally posted by Bwood:
I haven't picked up an appreciation for the peat monsters, yet. The excessive peat seems like too much oak on a wine.
Click to expand...

Bite your tongue.

True, the run-of-the-mill bottling of Laphroaig is quite coarse, say compared to the Signatory bottling of Laphroaig 1999 (58%) or Bruichladdich PC5/PC6/PC7 (don't have much at all in the way of wine verticals, but this is one I plan on maintaining).

Unchillfiltered malts are the only way to go. UCF = unspoofulated. I was told by my local expert in such matters (he's in our wine-dinner social circle) that the minimum alc. for a malt to be UCF'd is 43%.

Thor, I have no idea if you can get any kind of a selection of malts in Gay Paree. If so, Lagavulin has a 12 yr. "Special Release" (56.4%) that is absolutely superb. Not available in the US and blows the doors off the 16 yr.
 
Larry, there's a terrific selection of malts available, and in fact there was a fine array of The Unchillfiltered Collection malts at La Crmerie this evening. And there was also that Lagavulin. Unfortunately, they're far from price-competitive at the moment (the Lagavulin was 120 euros, I think), though at a semi-mystical dollar/euro parity they're cheap. Spiritous money is much better spent on the native stuff, I think.
 
Ouch

My friend was able to get a couple of cases shipped over. Total cost was $95/btl. I would've thought it would be cheaper closer to the source.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top