This whisky was part of the Twitter tasting on the 23rd of September 2021of an A.D.Rattray Cask Collection tasting set, with The Whisky Wire. (Twitter follow buttons can be found at the bottom of this review.)
Matured in a Bourbon Hogshead, cask #313206, and available October 2021 for £86.
Appearance
White wine in colour, with a medium thick swirl line that beads up straight away, and drops quick medium thick legs #ADRattrayWhisky
Nose
Sweet fruity bonfire ashes, the amount of tropical and stone fruits here is a lovely surprise, and equal to the strength of the peat/ash aromas actually, it’s wonderfully balanced.
Cooked salted bacon, with bbq sauce give it a coastal feel, but it doesn’t take over. Faint germoline and sweet lemon aromas drift around ethereally. #ADRattrayWhisky
Palate
Straight away i get a nice mouthfeel, quite oily in fact, and Initially upon first taste it’s super peaty with tea cakes and raisin filled scones. Slowly black pepper starts to come through, with tropical and stoned fruits, apricots, nectarines, a touch of pineapple and mango add to a fresh fruit medley, it’s actually quite sweet for me, and to be honest i’m really enjoying that aspect of this dram.
BBQ meat and sauce really come to the fore in the mid palate, dying embers too, oooh then a fleeting lemonade flavour there for a second, and blood orange marmalade too.
Towards the end of the palate i’m getting custard creams and lemon puff biscuits, and cranberries with a little drying. #ADRattrayWhisky
Finish
Long in length, and lovely and spicy, fruity, and warming. Icing sugar and lemoncello dance together here, and strawberry laces kids sweets bring red berry sweetness. Vanilla crown pastries, amaretto, praline, and liquorice close the finish, there are so many flavours here tbh, this could take time to really get to know #ADRattrayWhisky
My thoughts
Caol Ila are a huge producer of whisky, and as expected the official bottlings are released with a “distillery style” to them. Well A.D.Rattray have managed to obtain and release my favourite Caol Ila to date here. I love a lot of fruit aromas and flavours with my peat, another distillery also does this for me, and this bottling does it so well. For me it brings another dimension to Caol Ila, what Caol Ila can be.
As to whether i’d buy a bottle? it’s an absolute no brainer for me, i’d love to have a bottle in my whisky cupboard.
Notes – This whisky is presented in it’s natural colour, is non chill filtered and bottled at natural cask strength.
Thanks to – A.D.Rattray Independent whisky company, and The Whisky Wire, for the opportunity to sample this whisky.
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