Introduction
Goldilocks, a Scottish man with curly blond hair and wearing a kilt, walked into a pub and found three tumblers of whisky sitting at an empty table. Being a curious chap, he sat down and began sampling the single malts. The first one, a Bowmore 12 year, was nice, but a little gentle for his tastes. He jumped to the third tumbler, filled with Laphroaig 10. The iodine/tar notes in this one were too much! He already had enough hair on his chest, thank you very much. Finally, he took a sip from the middle tumbler, a Caol Ila 12 year. Ahh, just right…
Tasting Notes
Caol Ila 12 Year (2010; 43%; $55)
Nose: On initial pour, an ashy coal dust smoke rises into the air. Letting it rest a minute, and taking a couple of whiffs out of the glass, the smoke dissipates and leaves a fair amount of lemon, with a hint of furniture polish. The smoke is less noticeable, but still there, along with some peat and a little barley. Sometimes I get a salty, vegetable soup type of smell at the end. More so on initial pouring, dropping off after letting the whisky sit in the glass for a while. Palate: Juicy, peaty and fairly viscous, yet somehow still “fresh” and lively. Turns a bit hot and peppery in a good way, similar to the Talisker pepper kick. Finish: Heading into the initial finish, there’s a bit of a raw barley present that reminds me of younger peated whiskies. That dies off and leaves a combination of lemon and that ashy coal smoke. No tar like you find in Ardbeg or Laphroaig, and only a tiny bit of iodine making an appearance. The smoke lingers for a medium duration in the back of the nostrils. Note: That faint reminder of younger peated whiskies makes me wonder about the recent discussion here about cask maturation. I wonder if Caol Ila, a distillery with HUGE output, is one of the distilleries that re-uses barrels as many as 4-6 times. Could that slow the maturation some, leaving a younger barley flavor that I haven’t noticed in other 12 year expressions?Comments
There’s something different about Caol Ila peat. One evening I poured glasses of Caol Ila 12, Laphroaig 10 and Ardbeg 10 for comparison. My wife had cooked a ham and bean soup that day and the Laphroaig and Ardbeg both seemed to take on the strong salty ham aromas that had filled our house. Meanwhile, the Caol Ila maintained its unique ashy coal dust flavor, and had more of a fresh sea breeze quality. That really stood out to me, and the uniqueness of this peat smoke (although I get a similar smoke profile from Lagavulin 12) earns an extra point on my personal scale. Otherwise, I put the quality of this very close to Laphroaig 10. A solid B (85 Points).
Conclusion
I’ve now completed my run of “core Islay malt” reviews. Yes, there’s Bunnahabhain, but I’m focusing on the peated offerings for this series. Bruichladdich also has peated whiskies, but those are relatively new, and they don’t have any “standard” 10-12 year offerings that have been around for a while with a price below $60. Finally, we have the newcomer, Kilchoman. Very much worth checking out, but still a toddler, with no real “core” expression to be had for a few more years.
Caol Ila 12 is well worth a try if you’re looking for a “smoky” whisky. You should especially check this out if you have tried and liked Talisker, but thought Laphroaig, Ardbeg or Lagavulin were just a little “too much” for you. I personally put this expression a little above Laphroaig 10, but not quite on par with Ardbeg 10 or Laphroaig QC. They’re all of very high quality and worth comparing to see where your own preferences lie.
Cheers, Jeff
Nice write up Jeff, as always.
The CI 12, IMHO is one of those malts which is somehow an underdog. It’s really a good one, and the price point is right. It doesn’t have the Chick of Ardbeg, and yes CI is a giant distillery which is not as sexy…
but I do like this one as a daily peated dram. taking it with me to trips to enjoy at the end of a long day.
Gal
Thanks Gal! Definitely a solid daily dram to get your Islay fix. 🙂
Cheers,
Jeff
A nice peaty kick but having just finished an Ardbeg 10 the relatively shorter and less complex aftertaste is noticeable.
Yes, that’s true. Ardbeg 10 is bigger, more complex and longer lasting. If I were to attempt to rate these on some kind of objective scale, the CI 12 would not hold up. However, for my personal tastes, there’s just something very appealing about the Caol Ila brand of peat smoke and citrus that I find very refreshing.
Cheers,
Jeff
I, too, hold this offering in high-esteem. In fact, I’ve tried about 2 dozen different CI expressions, and none has let me down. Several of them I consider to be among my favorites!
Where the standard 12yr CI falls short is on it’s slightly lower ABV -were it offered at 50%-55% it would outshine the others’ standards (Laph & Ard 10’s) – and really go head-to-toe with Laph CS or QC.
But for me personally, Caol Ila is a standard – I’ve never had fewer than 4-5 different expressions on hand since I first discovered it.
While the output of CI dwarfs that of all the other Islay distilleries COMBINED (!!!), I just consider that a blessing that there will always be tons of CI available.
Odd that I, and others, consider this an “underdog” given their production volume and longevity of that distillery, but I guess since it’s only be available as a “brand” of Single Male for about a decade makes it the “newbie” on the block among the Laph, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Talisker, Bowmore, etc.
There’s just that lemon-rush in all CI offerings – with the olive-oily texture and slippery finish – and the unique breed of peat.
FWIW: In the WhiskyCast podcast from Feis Ille last year, Mark interviewed the CI guy, and he said that CI uses the *same* peating level and peat as Lagavulin. They literally do almost all the maltings at Port Ellen for all the malt, then drive it over to Lagavulin drop of their supply, and take the rest up to Caol Ila (all owned by Diageo).
That stunned me because I always considered it “lighter” than the others – but if you sit down and do side-by-side comparisons, CI really is very peaty and holds up to the Laphroaig, even, but just expresses itself somewhat differently.
Thanks for the review – and on the two other Battlehills above this post! Love my Caol Ila!
Hey Tim,
Thanks for the great comment and extra info! Interesting you should mention the CI/Lagavulin connection on the peated barley. That might explain the similarity I found between CI and Laga 12 smoke.
Not sure where you stand on Laga 12, but since the first time I tried it, I’ve considered it my substitute for a cask strength CI.
Still, I find the CI a bit more “accessible” than Laphroaig or Ardbeg, and I’ve had similar reactions from other people new to Islay whiskies. They’ll talk about how much they like CI, then make a funny face with the Laphroaig 10. 🙂
Cheers,
Jeff