The Caol Ila 1969 is a 17 year old whisky expression, bottled in 1986 by Gordon & Macphail. It’s also the subject of our latest Phil Your Glass review as Phil Dwyer gives his thoughts and tasting notes below.
Caol Ila, a real gem when it comes to indie bottles. Some of the most interesting and varied styles from this distillery have graced my palate to nothing but praise. A workhorse for Johnnie Walker, a good standard range and can be truly outrageous when it comes to golden indie cask bottles.
Colour: Oloroso
Nose: Smoky green apples, caramel, toffee, pear juice, bonfire night. The smoke is present and lingering – hickory smoke, BBQ, something southern USA and sweet in that smoke.
Palate: Savoury and bittersweet. Ashy smoke, Campari, apple skin, brown sugar, honeycomb, burnt toffee, turmeric. A revolving combination of sweet flavours that turn into earthy and burnt versions of themselves. This is very much a sample that doesn’t want to stop giving you flavour and depth.
Finish: Mineral driven, oily, smoked fish, mouth coating and dense, rich cigar smoke. Classic Caol Ila here. Less sweetness with more peat and barrel influence. The aroma of green apple and toffee is more distant now, but it’s adding softer edges to the more intense edges of Caol Ila. littlescholarsnyc.com
Assessment: Complex. Layered. Truly exemplary. It’s just missing a touch of the exotic that can normally come from older Caol Ila, that’s my only gripe. The change from sweet to smoky and then into bitter and oily offers a more adult and graded experience to what Caol Ila can really be.
91/100
The Caol Ila 1969 is a 17 year old whisky expression, bottled in 1986 by Gordon & Macphail. It’s also the subject of our latest Phil Your Glass review as Phil Dwyer gives his thoughts and tasting notes below.
Caol Ila, a real gem when it comes to indie bottles. Some of the most interesting and varied styles from this distillery have graced my palate to nothing but praise. A workhorse for Johnnie Walker, a good standard range and can be truly outrageous when it comes to golden indie cask bottles.
Colour: Oloroso
Nose: Smoky green apples, caramel, toffee, pear juice, bonfire night. The smoke is present and lingering – hickory smoke, BBQ, something southern USA and sweet in that smoke.
Palate: Savoury and bittersweet. Ashy smoke, Campari, apple skin, brown sugar, honeycomb, burnt toffee, turmeric. A revolving combination of sweet flavours that turn into earthy and burnt versions of themselves. This is very much a sample that doesn’t want to stop giving you flavour and depth.
Finish: Mineral driven, oily, smoked fish, mouth coating and dense, rich cigar smoke. Classic Caol Ila here. Less sweetness with more peat and barrel influence. The aroma of green apple and toffee is more distant now, but it’s adding softer edges to the more intense edges of Caol Ila.
Assessment: Complex. Layered. Truly exemplary. It’s just missing a touch of the exotic that can normally come from older Caol Ila, that’s my only gripe. The change from sweet to smoky and then into bitter and oily offers a more adult and graded experience to what Caol Ila can really be.
91/100
