[Review] Caol Ila 15 Year Old Unpeated Special Release

For today's whisky review I go to one of my favorite Islay distilleries to try an unpeated expression from them, Caol Ila.

Caol Ila is an Islay distillery located along Port Askaig and sits roughly a few miles away from Bunnahabhain. Operating and distilling since 1846 Caol Ila are known as one of three Diageo owned distilleries along with Lagavulin and Port Ellen which is re-launching in the near future. Caol Ila is an interesting distillery because of the approachability their OBs have especially with their gentler peat character. However this release is unpeated so I can talk about the peaty wares at another time.

So this Caol Ila is a Special Release as part of Diageo's lineup of special bottlings from their many distilleries. This one has been aged for 15 years and bottled at a hefty 61.5% ABV. For the asking price of $125 CAD I felt content to grab a bottle so lets see how this one fares compared to the last unpeated cask strength edition I had from Caol Ila.

• Colour: Straw gold
• Nose: Pepper, sweet oak, cereals, temperate fruits, allspice, some sulphur in the background along with some lemon citrus
• Taste: Big blast of citrus fruits, allspice and white pepper, apples, cereals, sweet oak, vanilla, some grassy floral elements and honey show up near the end
• Finish: Long with honeydew and vanilla

Wow what a fantastic body this whisky has! Strong notes of fruit, sweetness and savouriness really come together in this whisky! If the nose was a little bit stronger I'd probably rate this higher but its still a fantastic whisky and for $125 I might just grab another sometime soon!

85 pts

 

Current Review Scoring System:

0-49: Horrible

50-59: Bad

60-69: Mediocre to Average

70-74: Average to Good

75-79: Good to Great

80-84: Great to Excellent

85-89: Excellent

90-94: Superb

95+: Masterpiece

*Note that all images are owned by their respective owners, The Whisky Laddie does not receive financial compensation for this site's content. If this changes any copyrighted images will be replaced with originals made or solicited by the author of these posts.