Caol Ila 1969 Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail ‘brown label’ 40% vs Caol Ila 1969 Gordon & Macphail for Donini 58.1%
Caol Ila 1969 Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail ‘brown label’ 40%
Fresh! Classic Caol Ila profile, remember this is not the same Caol Ila as we have today. Zippy, zingy salt spray like braving a choppy sea with whiffs of seaweed, ointments and fresh ash in ashtrays. The peat is growling unobtrusive yet unavoidable. In my mind very similar to 70s Ardbeg. A profile that is fresh but rooty and dry, flecked with white minerals, coated in just some bitumen and sprinkled with a drop of aromatic burnt bitters. 89 pts
Caol Ila 1969 Gordon & Macphail for Donini 58.1%
Immensely peaty whisky, blind I would have guessed a fat and oily mid 70s Ardbeg. What it is is a flabbergasting mix of churning sea water, cut up seaweed, engine oil and chugging coal engines at full revs throwing out thick petrochemical smoke. With a mass of classic Islay notes like wet decks, soaked ropes and overalls, smoked lemon slices, menthol salves and white cigar ash but turned to overdrive. The monumental peat is black and dry, but thickly rooty with overtones of tar and pitch but remains more fresh and vegetal than say liquefied phenols. Given time, the zinging salt, stark minerals and tectonic peat coalesce into a bright scythe that sweeps the whisky to a unbelievably pristine finish. 93 pts
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