Yet again, Tom gets to profess his love for Islay whiskies!

As a superhero comic book devotee, I really jolted when on 20 July there was a documentary released about the comic book industry, this one being from the DC Comics point of view. I could not help but feel a distinct parallel with the whisky industry coming up when the documentary zoomed in on the great collapse of the late 90s. Comic book sales relied big time on collectability and one commentator states: “At one point there was nobody to flip to anymore.” And that was that.

I collect Caol Ila Feis Ile bottlings since the first one came out in 2009. The 2023 seemed to be out of reach until a dear friend still went to Islay and brought a bottle back for me. The 15th edition, not counting super special bottle-your-owns. Mind you, he visited the island AFTER the festival. Not so long ago, that would mean all bottles would have been sold out. This one was quietly waiting on the shelves. As a completist, I wanted it, but pricing is really crossing into the obscene area. There will always be booze, but a gentle collapse to return to normalcy is not really something I would mind.

Let’s go to the whisky at hand:

Sniff:
At this strength I moved to adding water straight away. That works like a charm, and brings out scents of stables that we loved so much in classic Brora bottlings from the early 2000s. Also some seaweed and wet pebbles. Not overly fruity, which makes me think the PX influence is rather mild. Very clean but complex and compelling. Beautiful peat.

Sip:
There is some sweetness but it’s subtle and kept at good level by the peat. It’s all very straightforward with cigar leaves and dark chocolate. What binds it all together is an amazing balance. I love small batch bottlings, this is a prime example.

Swallow:
Smooth and oily, textbook Caol Ila.

It’s just really good stuff. The price tag is just static on the line.  

90/100

About Tom van Engelen

I’m a writer in a variety of fields and have a soft spot for whisky, mainly malt, mainly from Scotland. In other times I enjoyed a stint as editor-in-chief of one of the first whisky magazines in the world. When not sipping a good glass I like to write some more, read, watch 007 movies or listen Bowie music. I’m married to Dasha, I have a sweet daughter and I live somewhere between the big rivers in the middle of The Netherlands.