Gordon & Macphail Connoisseurs Choice Caol Ila 1981 Aged 36 Years The Whisky Exchange 20th Anniversary

Style: Meaty, Smoky, Fruity and Complex

Rating: ☆☆ [Highly Recommended]

Nose:

A wave of robust, peppery meatiness running over glazed pears and digestive biscuits resting on the shore. Bacon strips and teriyaki enokitake, hot bird’s eye chilli steaming up, while green apple slices are lightly roasted on the side. Then we have an incredibly clean, graceful orchard-tropical sweetness gleaming beautifully at the core. Toffee sauce sitting at the back, molten honeycomb dripping, oak shavings and sea salt potato chips. A bit hot but fun layerings and quite complex.

Palate:

Limoncello and royal jelly breaking the shackles of searing smoke chain and overflow onto the palate. Hawaiian fruit punch with lychee and a touch of peppermint, paw paw, green apples, pineapple gummies and Longan fruits converge as the meaty, barbeque smoke tumbling and being naughty in the background. Gravy beef, umami and more enokitake almost giving a hint of moist dunnage. Then in comes another sharp citrus twist in the form of lime soda. Five spices, chocolate plum and liquorice roots to finish.

Finish:

Coal amber crackling gently, plum wine and milk chocolate with another pinch of sea salt.

Thoughts:

Such an intriguing interpretation of Caol Ila, probably that’s due to its inherent configurations – 36 years old but bottled at a whopping 60.2%. Robust, spicy and meaty smokescreen partially covers, infuses and also interacts with the graceful and dignified fruity notes which creates various layers and even multiple axis for us to contemplate and explore. Complex, high tempo and occasionally emotional making it an incredibly adventurous dram, you might probably need to endure the heat but it is still very delicious. Love it.

[60.2% | Independent Bottling | 1981 Distilled | 2018 Bottled | Single Cask | Batch Number: 18/103 | 201 Bottles | Refill American Hogshead **]

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