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Caol Ila 2002
12 Years Old
Distilled 9 September 2002Bottled 10 November 2014
Refill American Hogshead
Over the past few years we have been working closely with Gordon & MacPhail, choosing excellent whiskies to be bottled exclusively for The Whisky Exchange. We are big fans of Caol Ila, and having bottled a number of sherry-influenced whiskies from the distillery in recent years, we were searching for something different.
This 2002 vintage whisky has been bottled from a single refill American hogshead and focuses on the tropical-fruit side of Caol Ila's spirit. It doesn't shy away from smoke, with a solid peaty core, tempered by sweet vanilla and apple.
Tasting Notes
Nose: A mix of dark and light, with sweet butter, sharp apple, lime zest, sweet dried papaya and unripe mango backed up by tar, black liquorice and lots of sweet bacon smoke. It balances out to veer more towards the fresh and zingy side of things.
Palate: The fruit from the nose is up front, with apple and mango joined by juicy peach. It picks up smokier and darker notes as it develops, diving through liquorice and mineral-heavy gravel to land in earthy peat and coal smoke.
Finish: Ashy and briny, picking up sweetness, with apple, dark-chocolate digestive biscuits and black liquorice.
Comment: A game of two halves, with fruity, zesty character balanced by a darker side. The heavier elements do not overpower, giving a solid backbone to a sweet and smoky dram.
Sweet cured meat aromas with hints of tropical fruits and vanilla. The palate is fruity and creamy with apples, chocolate and a peat smoke edge.
I found this curiously fudgier than Caol Ila is usually. Surprisingly smoky too. A very clean profile, slightly different from the distillery bottlings and the austere flintier indies, and very satisfying but not mindblowing, hence 4/5.
Gordon & MacPhail
For more than 100 years, Gordon & MacPhail have been selling wines and spirits from their shop in Elgin in the heart of Speyside. When John Urquhart joined the fledgling business as a shop boy in its early years, he could not have predicted that he would not only take over the business, but that his family would continue his legacy into the 21st century.
While they started as a grocer, and their shop still stands on South Street in Elgin, they are now known around the world for their whiskies. One of the oldest independent bottlers in the world still in business, their warehouses contain some of the finest casks of whisky in Scotland, from the old and rare to the newly filled and still maturing. With a fourth generation of Urquharts at the helm, the company looks set to continue its impressive reputation for years to come.
Founded in 1846, Caol Ila sits on the seafront to the north of Port Askaig on Islay. Hidden at the bottom of a steep hill, it has changed a lot between its founding and 1972, when it was completely rebuilt as a modern whisky distillery. It is now the largest distillery on the island, with the vast majority of its spirit heavily peated in the traditional Islay style. The resulting whiskies vary from the young and feisty through to the delicate, fruity and refined as they age.
Well known as the producer of the smoky core of the Johnnie Walker range of blended whiskies, Caol Ila has increasingly become hailed as a source of excellent single malts. From the distillery's own core range to its yearly unpeated release, a key part of the Diageo Special Releases, and from young independent bottlings to venerable whiskies matured for many decades, it is one of Islay's most versatile producers.