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SCN Caol Ila 8 Year KWM Cask

SCN Caol Ila 8 Year KWM Cask

$109.99

Our first KWM Cask from indie bottler Single Cask Nation! This Caol Ila was distilled in 2015. It was finished in a Brazilian Rum cask for 1 year before being bottled at a cask strength of 57.4%.

700 ml
Region:Scotland > Islay
Vintage:2015
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Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: creamy, decadent, and tarry with clean smoke and a coastal edge; vanilla bean, coconut cream, and salted caramel ice cream; orange pith, grilled lemons, scallops and langoustines; sage infused olive oil, licorice root, and fennel seed.

Palate: sweet, tarry, and malty with crisp fruits; chewy malt, firm-tarry-peat, and salty Dutch licorice; while the salted caramel holds up, the vanilla bean and coconut cream are playing second fiddle; the grilled lemons are still there, along with some bbq grilled pineapple; woody spices: fennel, clove, and sichuan spices; still seafoody: butter poached scallops drizzled with a balsamic reduction, and bbq langoustines; espresso bean.

Finish: fresh, creamy, sweet, and spicy with fading, oily, tarry peat; citric fruits, baked apple, and salted caramel.

Comment: this is a bright, young, and faintly decadent Caol Ila; I'm not big on finishes, but this one caught our attention; the price doesn't hurt either, a year ago we were turning away Caol Ilas this age at twice the price!

The Following was written by Andrew Ferguson for the June 2018 edition of Celtic Life Magazine.

Scotland’s Caol Ila distillery is named for the body of water it gazes across, the majestic ‘Sound of Islay’ - a narrow but turbulent ribbon of water separating the islands of Islay and Jura.

The distillery is built almost precariously into the rocks of a steep embankment on a tiny bay. As with all of Islay’s distilleries, Caol Ila had to be supplied exclusively by sea until the middle of the 2oth century. Ships full of barley and oak barrels from the mainland sought a safe anchor from the tempestuous North Atlantic sea. They would return to the mainland with casks of the peaty, smoky, single malt whisky which Islay is still famous for. Then, as today, the vast majority of these casks were destined for blending.

Photo Courtesy ScotchWhisky.comCaol Ila - pronounced “cul-ee-lah” - is a facility full of contradictions. It is, by some margin, the largest of Islay’s eight active distilleries, but it also produces one of Scotland’s most dependable whiskies. Whisky Advocate Magazine refers to the distillery as ‘Mr. Consistent’ - a reflection on how few poor bottlings and casks of the whisky are in the marketplace. Is the size of the distillery and its efficiencies counterintuitively an asset? Perhaps, but these factors also make it one of the least interesting distilleries to visit on Islay, with one crucial footnote; the view from the Still Room at Caol Ila is unrivalled by any other distillery in Scotland, and possibly the world.

The Still Room’s floor-to-ceiling windows offer a panoramic view across the Sound of Islay to the dramatic Isle of Jura beyond. Whales, dolphins and sea otters all frolic in the waters out front, while the sun and clouds take turns revealing and obscuring the wilds of Jura.

In addition to the distilleries, there is much to see on Islay. One would be hard pressed, in fact, to see all eight of the island’s active distilleries in three or four days. I am torn when asked to recommend which distilleries visitors should see; in a perfect world the answer would be all of them. Islay is, after all, Mecca for disciples of malt whisky gospel. But when a distillery needs to be cut, Coal Ila is often the first on the chopping block. Other than the view, the distillery isn’t all that interesting compared with its neighbours.

Although its output is two and three times that of the next largest distilleries, almost none of Caol Ila’s production is matured on the island. More than 99 per cent of its whisky matures in warehouses on the mainland.

The vast majority of Caol Ila’s production is earmarked for blends - most importantly the world’s second bestselling blended scotch whisky, Johnny Walker Black Label. While less than 5 per cent of the distillery’s production is set aside for bottling as single malt by the owners, Diageo, a quirk of the Scotch whisky industry’s supply chains has made Caol Ila the most widely available Islay single malt from independent bottlers. Whisky companies trade casks with one another to add complexity to their blends. Some of these casks find their way into the hands of independent bottlers; Gordon MacPhail, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Port Askaig, and others regularly bottle excellent single cask and small-batch bottlings of Caol Ila.

If you make the trek to Islay (and you should), and have the time, be sure to pop by Caol Ila to admire the view. Whether on tour from the Still Room or from the pier in front of the distillery, the views of the Sound of Islay and Jura - regardless of the weather - will take your breath away. More importantly, try every bottling of the whisky you can find; few, if any, of ‘Mr. Consistent’ are likely to disappoint!

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