Three 28+ year Caol Ilas

Continuing on the new review series that I’m calling “Caol Ila doesn’t sound like anything I can make a joke about and I need to name a series oh well just don’t write what I just said, yes this part.” There’s a funny aspect of enjoying really, really peated whisky. The younger whiskies typically show […]

Caol Ila 15 Unpeated Special Release 2016

Thanks to /u/smoked_herring for the sample. Continuing on the new review series that I’m calling “Caol Ila doesn’t sound like anything I can make a joke about and I need to name a series oh well just don’t write what I just said, yes this part.” We all have secrets. For some of us, it’s as simple […]

Caol Ila 12 2003 Adelphi

Thanks to /u/xile_ for the sample. Now to start a new review series I’m calling “Caol Ila doesn’t sound like anything I can make a joke about and I need to name a series oh well just don’t write what I just said, yes this part.” Up first, a year or so ago we had a tasting. […]

Caol Ila 14 2001 Maltbarn

Thanks to /u/xile_ for bringing this dram to share at our latest tasting (that I’ve had time to write up). Cool picture on the bottle? Check. Islay single malt? Check Sherry cask? Check Cask Strength? Check. Yeah, this checks all the boxes of what I typically go for. Well, not that first one, it’s an added […]

Caol Ila 34 1982 Cadenhead Small Batch

I am typically not the type of person who hunts down rare whiskies. That isn’t to say I’m against it; suffice to say without swapping or going to bars, I wouldn’t be trying the whiskies I do. On some level I see the desire to hunt down a rare bottle. Waiting in line, finding out […]

Caol Ila 6 2009 Old Malt Cask [Mystery]

Thanks to /u/Ethanized for sending me these mystery samples Mysterious Woods is the first mystery sample (from Ethanized) where I actually start to think about the name and how it relates to the whisky. Was this made using some mysterious casks? Was it some Frankenstein’s monster cask like Amrut Spectrum? Am I reading too much into this and […]

Three Douglas Laing Double Barrel Offerings

Thanks to /u/cake_my_day for two of these samples. There are blends, blended malts, and vattings. Today we’re going to look at blended malts. Douglas Laing has an entire division devoted to the idea of taking two different whiskies from different distilleries, blending them together, and making something new. But not just two different whiskies. Two different single […]

Caol Ila 11 2005 Gordon & MacPhail bottled for Kensington Wine Market

Thanks to /u/devoz for the sample. Why not include this in my multi-review of a bunch of Caol Ilas? Cause it came later. Also I did a lot of work between then and now and don’t want to have to change all my numbering. Also I’m lazy. Let’s not forget that. Young peated malts are an […]

Caol Ila Reviews [1000th whisky network review/600th Scotch review]

Nearly 5 years ago I posted my first review on reddit, with the intent of starting to review whisky. I had just come back from visiting the UK for the first of three trips. On two more trips I would do 50 reviews in the UK to make up for the 0 on the first […]

Caol Ila SMWS 53.236 “Culinary Cannonballs”

Thanks to /u/xile_ for this sample. Blah blah been on a Caol Ila kick blah blah noted I needed more blah blah less peat blah blah fornication with a goat blah blah never allowed in Kuala Lampur again. I’ve said it before: I’m trying to catch up on the little distillery that I seemingly loved the […]