Review by: ZoidbergOnTheRocks
Some buddies and I went in together on the 175th anniversary bottle of Caol Ila 24. I’ve had some pretty brilliant older Caol Ila so I have high hopes for this one. I’ll taste it alongside a really nice 22yr festival bottling from 2019.
Tasted on 05/15/2021, neat in a Glencairn.
Caol Ila 24 Year 175th Anniversary
After splitting this I gave the bottle and packaging to someone who wanted it more, so you’re just getting a pic of an unopened bottle. Sorry. Color is a rather light straw.
Distillery: Caol Ila
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 52.1%, cask strength
Age: 24 years old. Bottled in 2021.
Non-chill-filtered. One of 3,000 bottles.
Nose: lemon, fairly sweet. Mild peat smoke. Clear seawater, wet pebbles. A little liquorice. A touch of diesel. Time is bringing out more medicinal notes. With Water: more smoke, sweet apples now. Some camphor. Earthy. More oily.
Taste: more smoke here for sure! Sweet lemon. A bit hot. Seawater, smoked salmon. Liquorice. Nice mouthfeel. Machine oil. With Water: warmer, bigger. Not as hot. More medicinal now. Oily mouthfeel. More smoke.
Finish: nice pop of earthy smoke. Sweet lemon. A bit of chili heat. Clean seawater. Finish is long-ish on the smoke and lemon. With Water: bigger smoke w/ that sweet lemon and a touch of seawater.
Summary: A little water and a little time in the glass help this one quite a bit. Opens up, gets bigger w/ better mouthfeel, and a longer finish. Adds some more medicinal notes which really complement the rest, too. More smoke than I bet most would imagine for a 24yr. There’s not an off-note in the whole thing, but honestly it’s a bit simple. It’s got a handful of things that it does very, very well, but there’s minimal depth here. The sweet lemon notes throughout go really well with the smoke and maritime flavors.
It’s really good, don’t get me wrong, but the lack of complexity is holding it back from an 8 today for sure.
Would I buy a bottle? no, I don’t think I need a whole bottle of this. I bought 200ml in our split, and that feels good to me. I’ll be curious to see how this one fares on secondary over time.
Final Score: 89.
Caol Ila 22 Year Feis Ile 2019
The festival bottle from 2019 which I reviewed about a year ago.
Looking back at my old notes they feel pretty representative today. And damn, I forgot how good this one is with a few drops of water. This is absolutely delicious, and if anything feels even bigger and richer next to the 24yr. Makes me wonder if I underrated this one a bit, but I’ll stand on my previous score. I’m glad I have a half bottle left.
Final Score: 90.
Comparison
Order: 22yr > 24yr
The 175th anniversary 24yr is very, very good. Worthy of celebrating the occasion. But this 22yr from the 2019 Feis Ile is a step up for me. Much more complexity, bigger, longer, etc. There’s a clear gap to me which makes for an easy ordering.
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.
Malt Runners 