Caol Ila 10 yo Provenance (1998/2008, spring distillation)

McGibbon's Provenance is the low price collection of Douglas Laing bottlings. This Caol Ila comes from two bourbon casks.

N: peaty and smoky notes, really enjoyable. Anyway sweetness is the character that rises immediately over the top: a lot of vanilla, or rather vanillin, it remembers strongly a cake just taken out of the oven (maybe a lemon cake? lemon seems to hide underneath most of Caol Ilas). It's a warm nose, with peat and sweety notes being in good balance. However it doesn't shine for complexity. A few and puny marine undertones.

P: similar to the nose: peat and vanilla, vanilla and peat, smoke and vanilla, vanilla and smoke. Some licorice. Very creamy, it leaves a nice feeling all around the mouth. No sea flavours.

F: quite fleeting. Predominance of the peat-smoke-salt (finally we got a hint!) trio, but it's just a moment.

When we drink this malt we have a basic example of what we get from the marriage between a good Caol Ila distillate and casks barely emptied from the bourbon they were holding. This Provenance enacts well and easily the sweet profile that a young peated whisky may have developed. We like it and we would advise this malt to a friend, also for his reasonable price (35 euro, more or less). Caution: once in the glass, drink it fast! as time goes by flavour fades...

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