Caol Ila 2006 GM - cask 306189 eo

Caol Ila  GM Cask strength  - natural colour, cask strength, non chill filtered
distilled 18/07/2006 - bottled 05/09/2017   cask 306189, 306191 & 306195 - 59,8%
1st fill sherry butts.

scores
whiskybase – 87/138 wb102403
malt maniacs - ??
serge valentin - 90

our own score: 88-89, all Serge is saying in his review is correct, i just score it a little less. Picture of the misses filling a valinch straight from a Caol Ila cask at the distillery

Caol Ila 2006/2017 (59.8%, Gordon & MacPhail, Cask Strength, first fill sherry butt, casks 306189, 306191, 306195) 
I had thought some sister bottlings by G&M (filled on the same day) were just utterly stellar. So, high hopes are de rigueur… And yes this is still the older livery. So last year… ;-)… Colour: straw. Nose: huge. Brine, seawater, mud, embrocations, clams, lemons, ashes, olives, putty. No sherry than I can get, first fill, really? But all is fine… With water: perhaps hints of almond milk, hand cream, lady’s moisturizer… Mouth (neat): exceptionally good. Sharp rhubarb, lemon, oyster plant (I’ve now got some in my garden, love it, expect to find it more often in my notes!), a drop of white tequila – not George C.’s… With water: saltier yet. Finish: long, rather more medicinal. Comments: it’s funny that they had this one within a ‘the wood makes the whisky’ series last year, because I find it totally and plainly distillate-driven. By the way, aged in Elgin?
SGP:457 - 90 points.