CAOL ILA 12 ans

Nose : dry and not hugely talkative at first. Intriguing with a refined note that wavers between acridity and sulphur, or perhaps the typical beef stock note found in old school malts. Multi-dimensional with multiple registers, the nose moves from being fruity to mineral to vegetal. Very ripe fruits emerge from this ensemble with passion fruit and then mango and a note of banana that opens up into candy floss and a delicate note of caramel. Extreme freshness carries the nose, with mint leaf, rosemary, thyme and liquorice stick. But its heart is a marine character and peat. It’s all there.

Palate : wonderful oily, long. The palate reveals a delicate minerality and elegant peat whilst remaining demure, with zan liquorice sweets, liquorice and aniseed. Next come notes of tar and macadam with a light bitterness at the end of the palate. Everything seems mastered and controlled, with no excess. Perfect!

Overall : freshly cut grass dominates at first. Iodine then arrives in waves. It brings to mind a slice of peach with shellfish and razor clams at low tide, and the flavours of fish fillets stacked up on the quays of a port. With lots of length, leather emerges with precision, alongside a note of undergrowth and damp cellar.