Comments on: Caol Ila Signatory Vintage 1992, 14 years

By: Peter Gondor

Peter Gondor — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:19:34 +0000

A good friend of mine introduced me to Caol Ila, that same man who introduced me to scotch in general years ago. I just found bottle # 81 and am planning on giving it to him for his birthday, Looking forward to trying it myself.

By: Port Askaig Roundup – Comparing CS, 17 and 25 year « Scotch Hobbyist’s Blog

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:58:11 +0000

[...] I think my wife was worried about me last night as I sat surrounded by four whisky nosing glasses (Port Askaig Cask Strength (57.1%), 17 (45.8%), and 25 year (45.8%) expressions, as well as Signatory Caol Ila 14 year). I wanted to do a head-to-head and really get a feel for how these different Caol Ila expressions stack up based on my own preferences. If you’re unfamiliar with Port Askaig (and why I’m referring to them as Caol Ilas), check out my full PA 17 review and/or this introductory post on The Whisky Exchange Blog. In order to do the comparison, I ordered 30 ml samples of the whole Port Askaig range from whiskysamples.eu (my review of their service here). The Signatory was part of the mix just to provide a Caol Ila baseline for comparison. You can read my post on that one here. [...]

By: Scotch Hobbyist

Scotch Hobbyist — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:04:01 +0000

Hi Tim,
Thanks for letting me know you’ve tried this! I googled like crazy looking for more on this bottle, as I’m really liking it. If I find another one, I’ll probably grab it for when this one is gone.

I have a post comparing the 12 to the 18, and I totally agree about preferring the 12. If you get the opportunity to try it, Port Askaig 17 is the Caol Ila you’ll wish the 18 would have been.

Cheers,
Jeff

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:48:45 +0000

I’ve got two of the other bottles (should say *had* two – now have one), and my buddy has another…

This is an EXCELLENT expression of Caol Ila – it’s more “caol ila-y” in ever way. I drained the first bottle pretty quick, and have yet to uncork the 2nd – saving it for a rainy day…

Caol Ila is perhaps among my favorites – I MUCH prefer the 12 to the 18. Don’t get me wrong – I like the 18 just fine, but it’s just less… Zesty/expressive. Tamed, perhaps? And given that this isn’t a peat-monster to begin with, I think the aging in the 18 year OB makes it less… interesting/enjoyable.

I’m hopeful to try a 8yr Signatory from the folks at Binny’s soon – they’ve got a terrific range of expressions on hand to try!