Caol Ila 12 Year Old James Macarthur's Cask strength Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky ABV 64.8% Vol 75cl / 750ml

DESCRIPTION

TASTING NOTES 

By Whiskyfun.com

This must be very early post-1973 distillation. We've already had some of these legendary early young Caol Ilas at very high strengths (63% or even 63.5%) by James MacArthur, but almost 65%, never. This must have been filled at 70% vol. Wish me luck. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: an ashtray splashed with diesel oil. Very difficult, very dangerous. With water: even with a lot of water, it remains rough and raw. Brine, brine and brine plus the same notes of diesel oil. quite a lot of plasticine too. Mouth (neat): great, you just have to take only a quarter of a drop at a time. It's very lemony but high alcohol does 'promote' those flavours. With water: simple, clean. Grapefruits, lemons, ashes and almond oil. It's good but it's very young and pungent. Finish: long, a tad medicinal (mercurochrome) and always very briny. The aftertaste is pleasant, smoked and salted liquorice? Comments: it was a young beast and it remained a young beast. It's great spirit, but it's too rough and water just wouldn't help. Plus, some kind of flocculation happened when I added water, which scared me to death. Well, almost, but that was a very unusual kind of white flocculation. SGP:357 - 78 points.

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