It seems Coal Ila 1981 is easy to find these days. We’ve seen bottlings by Liquid Treasures, Liquid Sun, Thosop and Malts of Scotland.

Caol Ila 30 yo 1981 (59,2%, Malts of Scotland 2011, ex-bourbon hogshead, MoS #11009, 117 btl.)

Nose: very elegant and sweet. Marzipan, clementine, some banana. Hints of vanilla and pastry, some creamy notes (rice milk, Almendrina paste). Very interesting, and overall very refined and balanced. Develops some medicinal notes and very soft ashy touches but it never becomes an Islay monster. Great silky elegance. Mouth: oily mouthfeel with much more (grassy) peat now. More pronounced coastal notes as well. Still this almond creaminess. Some sweet lemon and punchy pepper. Finish: long, initially salty and herbal but then returning to citrus and pepper.

This Caol Ila develops nicely from a discreet, rounded nose to a powerful, relatively peaty body without losing its balanced smoothness. High quality and fairly priced. Around € 130.

Score: 90/100