Caol Ila 25 Years Old Diageo Special Releases 2005 58.4% NV

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (88)

Gal Granov (89)

Nose: This one certainly feels older: There are some lovely wood notes with oak and leather , sweet peat with vanilla and deep concentrated honey. Stewed fruit: Plum and pear. Demerara sugar The nose is indeed warm and reassuring. May bot be the most complex of noses, but It’s certainly good.

Palate: Starting sweet. Honey and spice. Giving way to some big peaty notes, to be honest I was expecting the peat to be more subdued than it really is. Seaweed and salt with sweet smoke. It’s a sort of coastal peat – an Islay for sure. Then getting woodier with Polish and dry oak. Pepper and plum.

Finish : Peat pepper, and spice. lingering smoke and sweet distant plums.


A very nice Coal Ila indeed. But lacking the exotic fruit notes of older CI I’ve come to like. If we’re talking about wood, it certainly has some, but it’s not the kind of lovely wood you get from a Bunnahabhain 25 for example. Yes, I know the peat is balancing it out, but still. This is rather balanced, and although the peat is stronger than I anticipated, It’s not overpowering the other aromas and flavors. A worthy 25 year old, at a good price (relatively)

BOW (90)