Caol Ila 2011 Shi Hand Writing

Category	SINGLE MALT
Distillery	Caol Ila
Bottler	Shinanoya (Shi)
Bottling Series	-
Vintage	2011
Bottled Year	-
Age	12년
Cask Type	First Fill Oloroso Sherry Hogshead
Cask Number	-
Bottles Released	-
ABV	58.9%
Volume	700 ml
Label	-
Country	Scotland
Region	Islay

Flavor Profile

Smoky

Peaty

Vanilla

Maritime

Oaky

Sweet

Spicy

Fruity

Honey

Citrus

Herbal

Creamy

Dried Fruit

Floral

Nutty

Chocolate

Tasting Notes

Colour

deep gold

air Nose

hyper clean at first nosing. This kind of rather brutal, ashy smokiness, raw peat, iodine and seawater. Powerful but with a sense of restraint. Then it starts to open with this kind herbal jelly, menthol smokiness, cough medicines, mint tea and lighter notes of salted walnuts, eucalyptus oil and camphor. One of these noses that just keeps evolving and getting louder and more immense with each passing minute. I have to admit, I find this combination of herbs, smoke, salt and peat just utterly destroys me. If this whisky asked for my bank details I’d hand them over without blinking. With water: just when you think it cannot possibly get saltier, you suddenly find it is time to immediately call the anti-maltoporn brigade

restaurant Palate

syrupy in texture but also astonishingly salty, drying and pure. Lashings of petrol, oily peat, game meats, boiler smoke, old toolboxes, bouquet garni of dried herbs but most specifically mint, tarragon and parsley. Also more mentholated eucalyptus tones. You can throw soy sauce, ramen broth and gorse flowers into the mix as well. We could go on for days just picking out wee flavours, but really this is a whisky entirely about that tiny harmonious sweet spot between power, balance and depth of flavour. With water: deeper, dustier, peatier and more resinously herbal and medical. It’s also fruitier with wee exotic touches such as grapefruit and dried mango. A notch less saline now and more towards coal smoke, anthracite soot, carbon paper, ink, tar, mushroom powder and wee vegetal touches. The kind of whisky that commands your attention and seizes total control

timer Finish

endless, salty, peaty, chalky, mineral, oily, petrolic, herbal, rooty, earthy, vegetal and coastal. Mesmeric

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