Caol Ila 1979 / 2010 Prenzlow Portfolio Collection #5294 57.9% vs Caol Ila 20 yo 1981 / 2001 Wilson & Morgan #276 59.2%
Caol Ila 1979 / 2010 Prenzlow Portfolio Collection #5294 57.9%
Feels like the fire of wild youth has dissipated to a warm salty glow. Warm pastry from wood fired ovens. Salty fish pie, anchovies, burnt brown sugar and soot flecked linseed oil. A multitude of flavours abound, testament to the capacity of this make to age well. Burnt hay, seared apricots and gently glowing reds from under a blanket of grey ash. It’s beautiful whisky, well aged but not long in the tooth. A canvas of fine hues, apt to be missed maybe, if distracted. Occasional puffs of greasy smoke coating everything in a fine black grime. Humidors and expensive cigars on leather settees. Rock salt and stale tidal pools full of old seaweed awaiting new life. 91 pts
Caol Ila 20 yo 1981 / 2001 Wilson & Morgan #276 59.2%
A younger and more muscular sort of Caol Ila though it’s by no means huge, as informed by a lean and dry but sharp peat tang. Salt crusted things dripped with lemon oil and industrial abrasives. Lots of cold charred wood with a fair amount of burnt grease. On the tongue the whisky awakens, fires and coals burst to life with an intense and pure heat. Glowing metal, translucent smoke and a thin air of combustion that wafts overhead instead of filling the room with flame. Less about phenolics and an exposition on a clear salinity, sharp and tangy, matched with an wintergreen and seaweed edged peat. 91 pts
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