Stunning cask-strength Caol Ila sweetened up with a bit of Amoro cask finishing, it comes a wee bit short of the punchy, powerful Caol Ilas I like.
Caol Ila Feis Ile 2017 12 Year / 55.8%
Tasted neat
This Caol Ila was bottled for Feis Ile 2017, part of a 1,500 bottle release for the annual festival. It’s twelve years old, and was double matured in ex-Amoroso casks. It is also natural cask strength, and was selected by Eddie Thom.
If you’re wondering what Amoroso sherry is, it’s also the cask-type used to finish Talisker Distiller’s Editions, and is producer El Maestro Sierra’s proprietary 15-year Oloroso doped with 4-year aged PX sherry to sweeten it up.
- Color: amontillado sherry (0.9)
- Nose: sweet peat, asphalt, burnt egg, and cantaloupe
- Taste: prickly aloe juice, peat and iodine, smoke, ash, and sweet sherry
- Finish: long, peaty, smoothly smokey, with a hint of sweetness
This is interesting, taking a cask strength Caol Ila and putting it into a sweeter cask finish. I don’t quite like it at 12 years, as the sweetness from the sherry fights with the brashness of 12 year old Caol Ila. I think it would do quite good in the early 20 years of age.
Rating: 85/100
