Caol Ila 12 Years Old

Tasted in Whisky Magazine Issue 50 by Martine Nouet and Dave Broom.

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Tasting Notes

Martine Nouet Nose Lively. Marine. Morning sea-breeze. Wet rocks. Phenolic. Warm tar. Cough medicine. Burning seaweeds Palate Round, mellow. A full bite of sea-shore. Hint of scallop. Smoked mackerel. Salty. Smokiness comes in the back. Finish Spicy, lingering, dry on cold ashes. Smoked oysters. Comment A balanced expression of peat in this version. A lot of intricate aromas in this dram.

Dave Broom Nose Crisp. Hot-smoked salmon, wet seaweed, smoked paprika. New aromas of parma violet, liquorice, wet canvas shoes. Palate Soft and clean. The smoke teases you at the front, then erupts in middle and back. What is most noticeable is how the middle has fleshed out. Finish Blackberry leaf. Beach bonfire. Smoky. Comment Better balance than the CS. The peat is at same level, but a greater range of aromatics has been brought out. Complexity emerges.