$30 Whiskey

[jazznut]

I can well believe it, John, as this whisky is both immediately appealing to a broad spectrum of whisky drinkers as well as possessing the stuffing to satisfy a more demanding audience.

It also has the capacity to make one want to pour a second dram, not to mention that it's very enjoyable at just about any time of the day or night!

For those delving into the pleasures of Islay, I see the 12YO Caol Ila as displaying a similar degree of versatility.

[SMOKINACTUARY]

I agree with the any time virtue of the OP.

I have seen both the 12 and 16 yo Caol Ila but haven't bought them because I thought they would be too smoky. How would you compare the Caol Ila with something like Clynelish?

[Huey]

Originally Posted by SMOKINACTUARY

Doug,

I gave a bottle of the Old Pulteney to my synagogue for the Sabbath Kiddush and it was amazing how it was appreciated by seasoned malt drinkers and novices alike.

Well! Good for you!

I bet they found it very Sedersfying.

[jazznut]

Originally Posted by SMOKINACTUARY

How would you compare the Caol Ila with something like Clynelish?

Probably best to go back to my tasting notes on the 3 most widely available current bottlings...

Caol Ila 12 Year Old – 43%

Pale, shimmering, lemon-lime gold hue. Pungently medicinal from the first whiff. Pears, bananas, salad greens, olives and tar pitch in antiseptic saline solution. Soft, fruit-laden palate overture before the peat and brine enter stage-right. Just enough clean, spicy oak and spirit to keep the seesaw tipping. Salt licks and wood ashes lying atop sand kick in at the close. Good length. The brawn of Caol Ila presented in an all too drinkable form.

Caol Ila 18 Year Old – 43%

Gold tone with buttercup yellow highlights. Less flamboyantly medicinal fragrance. Fruit salad. Beach pebbles at high tide. Vanilla. White chocolate. Almonds. Winter thyme. Opens on the palate with surging bite-size malt sweetness. Durum semolina. Uplifted fruit married to polished oak. Tightly integrated and very focused at mid point. Hints of hot pepper drift into the drying dénouement as a distinct sensation of thyme leaves settles on the tongue. Salivating. Those unique flashes of flavour are, at times, quite remarkable.

Clynelish 14 Year Old Hidden Malt Series – 46%

Bright medium to full gold hue with tangerine reflections. Fruit salad fragrance. Old dried tobacco leaf. Far in the background, demure salt and mustard seed win out against even fainter smoke. Perhaps not quite so aromatically forthcoming as this whisky can sometimes be. Palate-wise, this whisky is a Clynelish parfait par-excellence, with the frothy orange creamsicle sweetness sitting tenuously atop brine-stained barrel wood and embering coals. Back and forth we go. Honey, mustard and pepper dressing garnishes watercress at the close, yet the sweetness still lingers. Excellent juggling of the flavour elements. And the increased bottling strength works wonders.

Seen in this light, the 14YO Clynelish I've profiled might well be viewed as a 'Balvenie' to the more 'Glenfiddich'-like Old Pulteney (though I hear the 17YO Old Pulteney is another beast altogether!). As for the two Caol Ila versions, both are altogether more soothing and approachable than many independent bottlings, which have, by and large, seemed to emphasize a sharper, sea and ex-Bourbon wood-driven dryness (in my experience, at any rate). This is not to say that the UDV/Diageo releases lack a solid dose of Islay oomph, though. It's merely to state that the medicine goes down in an easier and far less austere fashion. I've not yet had the pleasure of the no-age-statement cask-strength OB Caol Ila, which reputedly leans more to the 'open-the-bomb-hatch' style of the distillate.

The Rare Malts Selection cask-strength editions of Clynelish (and its inoperative 'sister' distillery, Brora) neatly bridge the salt'n'smoke gap between the 14YO Clynelish and the 12YO and 18YO Caol Ila. They are quite delicious!

[pogophiles]

I'll take Rittenhouse Rye 100 @ $15.99 every time...

[Girardian]

Balvenie Doublewood -- usually around that mark if you can find it @ Trader Joes.

On the Bourbon front -- barrel selections of Elmer T. Lee are about the best value / quality ratio I've found.

[debaire]

Originally Posted by Girardian

Balvenie Doublewood -- usually around that mark if you can find it @ Trader Joes.

On the Bourbon front -- barrel selections of Elmer T. Lee are about the best value / quality ratio I've found.

Doublewood at Costco for $33
Laphroiag at TJs for $30