Review by: The Muskox

This bottling of Caol Ila is part of The Whisky Barrel’s ongoing space-themed series. The bottling that I really want to try from this series is the “One Small Step” Bowmore 17, but I haven’t found a sample of that yet so this’ll have to do. Like the Bowmore, this Caol Ila has a very dark colour, implying very heavy sherry influence. Let’s dig in!

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Distillery: Caol Ila.

Bottler: The Whisky Barrel.

Region: Islay.

ABV: 58.5%, cask strength.

Age: 8 years old. Distilled in 2012. Bottled October 2020.

Cask type: Cask #TWB1014, a 1st-fill sherry butt.

Color: Mahogany. No colour added, un-chillfiltered.

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Nose: Sweet and savoury. Bubbie’s braised brisket – not American-style smoked brisket, but oven-braised with a sauce of ketchup, brown sugar, and roasted garlic. Deep earthy notes of mud-encrusted swamp grass, as well as spicier earthy flavours of cedar planks, cumin, and turmeric. Distant burning dried twigs. There’s sweet with the peat: Concentrated fruit notes of apple pie, grilled orange, lemon oil, and fig, along with richer caramel flavours of brown sugar and chocolate chip banana bread. The earthy and sweet meet in the middle to form some kind of peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich.

Palate: Medium texture, slightly soft. Sweet raisin and orange on the arrival before turning smoky and savoury. Now we’ve gone from braised brisket to smoked brisket. Deep meaty rich notes of applewood smoke, burnt ends, a hint of ash. Savoury notes of mushroom tea and dried tomato. Muddy and peppery, hardwood charcoal. Very overbrewed black tea, with a hint of cherry and honey.

Finish: Medium-long, earthy, dark, and bittersweet. Cola, black pepper, unsweetened chocolate and espresso. Honey and raisins. A hint of salted licorice.

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Possible SMWS bottling name: “One-way mission to Planet Brisket”

Notes: Pretty great! Excellent savoury meaty flavours that are pretty hard to find even among other sherry+peat bottlings. It’s easily the most sherry-ish Caol Ila I’ve tried. The sherry cask buries the spirit under a sticky brisket mountain, but at least on the nose there’s still some recognizable Caol Ila citrus and honey. I actually love the run-of-the-mill youngish refill-cask Caol Ilas that seem ubiquitous nowadays, but it’s nice to try one that breaks that mold.

Final Score: 86.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.