A sunny day with Caol Ila 1972 and Bruichladdich 2004
We continue our (digital) celebration of the Feis Ile festival on Islay, that is going into its third day today. Bruichladdich Day has traditionally been one of the more popular festival days, while I have the best memories of celebrating at Caol Ila Distillery. In 2014, me and some good friends ended the incredible Ultimate Islay Experience at Caol Ila, after starting the day in a peat bog while sipping Lagavulin 1982 from a cask sample. Travelling past Port Ellen maltings, seeing the old and abandoned malt floors at Lagavulin and then going by boat along the rugged Islay coast … that is a sight to see. While you recover from the majestic view at the McArthur’s Head Lighthouse, you see the Sound of Islay narrow, with to your right the Isle of Jura, and – eventually – to your right Port Askaig and onwards the Caol Ila Distillery. There we tasted an assortment of delights, coupled with chocolate and all, before the afternoon turned us all into a delicate state. With a Lagavulin 37 years old in the one hand and one of the later releases in the Port Ellen series in the other, we went home with a blush on our cheeks. What a day.
We have seen quite a few private casks of Bruichladdich over the years. The distillery sold lots of them in the early days of restarting distilling with Jim McEwan at the helm. It did not take long to make Bruichladdich live up to its reputation of best kept secret. The word was out, and so were a lot of expressions. The distillery is a household name these days, is it not? Concerning the sale of casks to private people; it seems to be on the up. Kilchoman released a program last year and last week I saw Bunnahabhain is following suit. The times, they are a-changing!
Bruichladdich 2004, 12 years old, bottled at 51,4 % abv
First things first: Only 18 bottles were filled from a cask, available via someone or something called Leann Morgan. This whisky was distilled in May 2004, let’s say exactly 21 years ago, and bottled in June 2016. The whisky matured in a first fill sherry hogshead. Private bottling indeed.
Upon Sipping: Oh wow, that was a beautiful sherry cask, and off the bat I can already declare it was a crime to take only 18 bottles! A mixture of red fruits and spicy, almost sulphury notes, but not the Blacker Still extremities. I have trouble finding the Bruichladdich character in all this, or it must indeed be that rubbery note. Taking a sip is pure delight, with lots of sweets, caramel, honey and Christmas cake tastes. Only when the liquid starts inevitably sliding towards the finish part of the experience, do we start getting a more robust note. Dry rubber, like licking a bicycle tyre. But, in combination with the sweetness, it kinda works. A truly funky Bruichladdich in the glass here, and beautifully uncommercial. With water, not more of the feared rubber, but actually some more fruits, cherry, leaning towards raspberry and even some peach. Slightly bitter on the finish now.
Word to the Wise: Quite an impressive Bruichladdich at just 12 years old. It tastes much more mature and balanced than that. Good sherry casks are a blessing, that much is true.
Score: 87 points.
Caol Ila 1972, bottled at 40 % abv by Gordon & MacPhail
First things first: Put in a 750 ml bottle in the Connoisseurs Choice by Gordon & MacPhail, this might well be the last production from the old Caol Ila Distillery, before it was completely demolished and rebuild. There is no information on the bottling date, but I suspect it would be a very early 1990s one. Let’s say this whisky was matured between 15 to 20 years.
Upon Sipping: Oy vey! This is malt whisky porn straight from the start. Very easy to get impressions because you can nose it easily at 40 % abv, but it is certainly not weak. Beautiful, medicinal peat, mixed with warm hey, floral tar (yes, that does sound weird, I know) and the inside of a barn. Some lavender even, and ginger notes. Develops well in the glass. Lovely. The taste is light but full of flavour, with more sweet notes than I ever suspected to find. Dry malt, with a delicate peaty flavour, as if taking a hand of barley from the kiln floor and tasting some. The finish returns to an almost extinct peat smoke, keeping in tone with the dry taste, but delivers a full Islay experience. Upon repeated tasting, the floral notes become stronger, making for a mix of sweet ‘n sour that is very interesting. Great balance, great complexity, very rounded and gentle, but not without power.
Word to the Wise: An ultimate Islay expression! We will keep some of this sample to compare them with a few other 1970s expressions I still have in the cabinet. One can only imagine what a fantastic whisky this would be at a higher abv.
Score: 91 points.