Origin: Islay (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 43%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: LMDW
Average price: € 95.00
Official website: www.whisky.fr
Let’s go back to La Maison Du Whisky’s artistic collection of 2024 with a bottle dedicated to a very young Caol Ila (an unfailing presence now of any independent bottler), again with a work by Katrin Bremermann on the label.
Six hogshead casks to produce 2,753 bottles, and with a very light colour that suggests they were not exactly active.
Tasting Notes
Everything you’d expect on the nose, between the coastal peat of seaweed and grilled seafood with a hint of hydrocarbon and citrus fruit (lemon, blond orange), brine, high minerality, yellow fruit (dehydrated apricot, peach, banana), malt and a pastry component, between burnt brioche and baked cream. Spicy hints of black pepper and nutmeg. Straightforward and direct.
On the palate, it attacks with a freshness of aromatic herbs (rosemary, thyme, marjoram) and a light menthol note, with black pepper and paprika to tease out the inclusion of peat, always marine, with lemon-soaked bonfire and lots and lots of brine and saltiness. Good body, with just the right fullness and viscosity to carry the sparkling sweetness of cola in combination with liquorice, pastry and vanilla, with flashes of chalk and wet flint. In the background, smoked seafood returns (mussels, scallops).
Medium-length finish, saline and mineral, of beach bonfires, lemon, black pepper and paprika, used slate, burnt tart.
Hard to be wrong with a young Caol Ila, and in fact it doesn’t happen this time either, managing to balance the youth of the distillate with the influence of non-overpowering casks to create a lively and enjoyable drink, the kind that finishes in an evening with friends.
Vote: 86/100