Caol Ila 18yo

[patrick dicaprio]

I just cracked opena fresh bottle and this was my first tasting of it. I was very surprised in that the nose had a typical Islay character (but less so than would be expected) and the palate presented almost nothing to me that would be typical of Islay malts. I found almost no tar, smoke or peat. Has anyone else come to a similar conclusion on this? i felt that there was almost no harmony between the nose and palate (not that this is necessarily bad, just interesting to me).

Pat

[Crispy Critter]

I killed a bottle of it a couple of weeks ago, and it seemed to me like the peat was there, just very mellowed. For me, the strongest peat attacks have been Laphroaig 10 CS, Ardbeg 10, and, especially, a Port Ellen 1981/1992 that I had last fall. Laph 15, on the other hand, had that mellow, corners-rounded-off-by-time taste to it.

I've never had any of the older-than-15 Laphroaigs; most whiskies that sit in a store's locked case are too expensive for me...

[Tom]

Hi Patrick,
no reason to get alarmed, its normal, the caol ila range is mildly peated and tastes different then other islays. try the CS thats a regular Islay. I myself am not a fan of the 12 and 18 and especially the 18 is dissapointing.
The IBs are mostly splendid however.

[Bart]

Hi Patrick,

I bought one a couple of years back after a distillery tour. I really like Coal Ila, I call it my Mid-Islay, I have about 20 different expressions of this drop. I must admit it is a light Coal Ila with all its character present but it doesn't come to the surface. For an 18 yr old it is slightly disappointing, I have had better once.

Slainte
Bart