Origin: Islay (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 57.3%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Sherry oloroso
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Morisco Spirits
Price: € 145.00 on Morisco Spirits
Official website: moriscospirits.com
Another of the new releases (Element III) in the Italian bottler’s Wunderkammer series, a single cask from Caol Ila this time at cask strength, as Morisco doesn’t consider cask strength a religion, choosing it only when the distillate can actually benefit from it.
307 bottles matured entirely in ex-Sherry.
Tasting Notes
A highly charged and intense nose, with an old-fashioned ship’s keel roughness washed with aged balsamic vinegar, where overriped fruit (orange, plum) with blackberry and quince jam, together with flashes of nutmeg, black pepper, sweet liquorice, chestnut honey. And the smoke, which opts for teamwork framing the aromas, declined in cigar and burnt foliage. Chunky aromas, with a growing oxidised vein, between mouldy and metallic, which balance its strength. Rich and elegant.
And it all comes back to the palate, viscous and seductive, with a definite spicy compartment (black pepper, nutmeg, cloves) that opens the door to overriped fruit (plums, blackberries, melannurca, blood orange) accompanied by soy sauce, cooked must, liquorice, mushrooms and a chewy, savoury smoke of smoked herring and burnt seaweed. So savoury that it triggers extreme salivation that you can only quell with another sip. Along the length it becomes dirtier and wetter.
Long finish of dull embers, herring, nuts, balsamic vinegar, blackberry jam.08
A beautiful Caol Ila, an excellent cask that knows how to enhance the distillate by giving it nuances and persistence, an extreme drinkability associated with a rare elegance and richness.
Vote: 90/100