Caol Ila Feis Ile 2018 Whisky Review!

A 10-year old cask strength Caol Ila from refill & rejuvenated casks. That may not sound remarkable on paper, particularly if you consider the countless options from independent bottlers. But the clue here is in the title: it's a Feis Ile bottling!

Caol Ila Feis Ile / Islay Festival bottlings aren't easy to come by. Much like the other Diageo-owned Ileach, Lagavulin, their limited releases are only sold from the distillery shop on Islay - although during the pandemic they've also been available online, but only to British postal addresses. The same scarcity actually applies to cask strength official bottlings of Caol Ila in general, at least aside from the massive array of independent bottlings that are out there. It's basically the opposite approach to that taken at Lagavulin, where the 12-year old cask strength bottling has been a staple of Diageo's Special Releases program for nearly twenty years, and independent bottlings are hard to come by - particularly with the distillery's name on them. There have been a few appearances from Caol Ila in the Special Release series, but most were either unpeated (which is really only produced for the blenders) or older single malts. Some of those unpeated bottlings were nice and some were interesting, but they're not really proper Caol Ila in my book. Otherwise the last time a cask strength official bottling of Caol Ila was available was back in 2008 when the fleeting & delicious non-age statement 'Natural Cask Strength' series (reviewed here) met its end. Since then, cask strength Caol Ila has really been the domain of the independent bottlers, thanks to the distillery's huge production output which is still mostly allocated to Diageo's blended whiskies rather than their single malt program - which leaves large numbers of casks available for blenders, independent bottlers and cask brokers. While some bottlings are naturally better than others, and on very rare occasion they end up being decidedly average, most independent bottlers do great things with Caol Ila, and it's not easy to find a bad one. 

And that makes things difficult for the distillery's owners when they decide to actually give Caol Ila some attention. Sure, they have the core range 12-year old and the non-age statement "Moch", and occasionally the moscatel wine cask finished Distiller's Edition that have all been around for a reasonably long time, but they're all bottled at 43% and are chill filtered. So when there are countless cask strength independent bottlings out there, how can the distillery owners differentiate their own? Well, in this case it seems that you don't really worry about it. Aside from the 30-year old and 35-year old from the recent Special Releases, Caol Ila's packaging & presentation is always minimalist. Brown glass with plain labels, simple designs and only the very basics of information - sometimes an age statement and a simple mention of cask type, but often just an ABV and little else. Like many of the independent bottlings of Caol Ila the vast majority of spirit is matured in refill casks, but that's no bad thing - refill casks means more distillery character and more spirit character, and since this quieter Ileach generally produces a lighter, less confrontational Islay whisky than some, that's really the best way to show what this underappreciated distillery can do. That's not to say that Caol Ila doesn't work well in first-fill casks, because it can. But it's also easy for a first-fill cask, particularly full-term maturation in a sherry cask, to completely overwhelm this comparatively gentler, lighter Islay spirit and leave you with a flat, dull and lifeless "sherry bomb" that is almost completely devoid of spirit character, even at a young age. And that's always a disappointment if you ask me. Now that's not a blanket rule of course - in fact I've had the privilege of trying a 22-year old first-fill European oak sherry cask at the distillery as part of their "Cask Strength Experience" that was absolutely incredible, one of the overall highlights of that trip to Islay, in fact. But that is obviously a serious rarity. On the other hand, not wanting to name names, but much younger independent bottlings from first-fill sherry casks have been massive disappointments, and their dark colour is actually something to be wary of rather than something to lust after. 

Diageo are not silly, and the distillery staff certainly know what they're doing, so when they're given the chance to do right by their quiet workhorse of a distillery, the results can be truly great. Aside from the more-recent Distillery Exclusive bottlings from 2017 & 2018 that were finished in red wine casks, and the sporadic older stuff from the Special Releases if you have the required disposable income, the only other option for official bottlings of peated cask strength Caol Ila is the annual Feis Ile bottling, released around May-June each year to coincide with the Islay Festival. The Feis has understandably been cancelled for the last two years thanks to the pandemic, so instead the Caol Ila (and Lagavulin) bottling has been offered from Diageo's single malts website - provided you have a postal address within Britain at least. Prior to that though, the only way to access these special bottlings was to get yourself or a "whisky mule" to venture down that steep winding road at Port Askaig to the distillery shop and grab one. But even then you'll also need to time it right - they don't tend to last long. These Feis Ile bottlings may be relatively expensive for their age, and no you won't get a box, and no you won't get fancy packaging or even a detailed label, but more importantly you might just get a great Caol Ila as a consolation prize! 

The Feis Ile bottling that we're looking at here is from 2018, and I was lucky enough to buy it from the distillery shop on what (sadly) was my most recent visit to Islay, in October of that year. The ages of these Caol Ila Feis releases are all over the place, from non-age statement to the 22-years old in 2019, and this particular release is one of the younger age-stated examples at 10-years. Also not a bad thing though, refill cask bottlings from this distillery can be great, even with ages in the single digits. This 2018 release has been matured in both refill American oak hogsheads (250-litre casks) and rejuvenated European oak butts (500-litre casks), meaning refill sherry casks that have been internally shaved and re-toasted and/or re-charred - based on smell & taste here I'd say they were merely re-toasted. There were only 2,500 bottles released at a cask strength of 58.2% ABV, and despite the lack of information on the label I can safely say that it is non-chill filtered and natural colour. Pricing was rather hefty at 100 GBP, but that's roughly inline with similar Feis Ile releases from the other distilleries. Tasting time!

Caol Ila Feis Ile 2018, 10-year old, 58.2%. Islay, Scotland.

Matured in refill American oak hogsheads and rejuvenated European oak sherry butts. Non-chill filtered, natural colour (but not stated on packaging). 2,500 bottles. 

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Sweet, salty & peaty. Sweet dried seaweed, salty smoked bacon, black jelly beans (aniseed) and shoe polish. Dried red chilli flakes, sweet lemon & orange further in. Sweet hot-smoked salmon, soft spicy peat smoke, touches of leather & damp wood. 

Texture: Light-medium weight. Lightly oily, but clean & fresh overall. Slight touch of heat. 

Taste: Sweet & oily entry, then a big wallop of dry & spicy peat, ashy smoke and red chilli flakes. Salty smoked fish, dried orange and burnt smoked bacon. Touch of old leather & dry shoe polish. 

Finish: Medium-long length. Sweet shellfish (crab?), touch of smoked ham and green chilli flakes this time. Gentle spicy & sweet peat smoke (ashy), touch of old bandages / old first aid kit. Black peppercorns, sea salt and dried fennel (think green, vegetal/herbal aniseed), and Caol Ila's trademark grassiness. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Delicious young Caol Ila. Fresh & sweet, salty & peaty with a touch of that trademark grassiness & the cleaner, relatively gentler style of coastal/maritime notes that this distillery does so well. And that's always great to find in a Caol Ila since they're all matured on the Scottish mainland - even the warehouse pictured above is usually full of casks of Lagavulin. This Feis Ile Caol Ila may not be the most complex whisky out there, and it did take a month or so to relax after opening, but it does everything you'd want in a young Caol Ila, and it does it well! The youth does show itself in places, but with breathing time - both the bottle and with each pour - it's a lovely punchy young Ileach with plenty of spirit character left intact, and those rejuvenated sherry casks have certainly behaved themselves - although there probably wasn't many of them in the vatting. 

A great little liquid souvenir from my most recent trip to Islay, and it's a great motivator to get back there ASAP. 

Cheers!