Caol Ila
Raymond Armstrong Caol Ila 25 year old 54.3%

Re-fill Sherry Cask 5387

An intriguing, rich and violety nose of sherry re-fruits and dusty almost floral peat. The fresh distillery character begins to emerge trailing a distinct antiseptic note in its wake. This smells mature! Big, bold, juicy malt and oak mingle effortlessly and the peat becomes manureier in character before finally turning more phenolic. The nose is quite un-coastal which would suggest lengthy mainland maturation, but what it may lack in the salt department it sure as hell makes up for it in robustness.

The palate opens with the cask but the gentle sooty-peat brushes it aside. The crisp distillery character builds, adding notes of hyacinth and violet on the middle. The alcohol is quite intense and balances the thick barley honey and smoked bacon ‘meatiness’ of this dram. Lovely length leaving a distinct oily/ sooty coal dust finish. There is an impression of coastalness, but just an impression.

With water the nose display less of the cask and more of the distillery character. Still very juicy and very violety now. On the palate it has become sweeter giving the fruit a candied edge and the wood comes more into play adding a bitter chocolate note and biting at the finish. Gently smoky and phenolic but still meaty and the coal dust is not far away! Exceptionally good!