Whisky : Caol Ila 12 Year SMWS 53.287 “Ye olde medisin” 

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 58.5%

Cask : Refill Hogshead/Ex-Bourbon

Age : 12 Years (Distilled 18 July 2006)

Nose : New Year’s Eve in Hawaii; fireworks, gunpowder, and an alkaline smoke hang in the air.  More savory, though still smokey, notes come through as salty rendered beef fat, kiawe smoke, burnt herbs, parsley, and charred lemon peal.  Burning pine comes near the end— not properly dried pine, but fresh cut almost green wood.

Palate : That fresh cut green wood smoke— almost a wet smoke, comes through right away on the palate.  The burning pine of the campfire is joined by a bit of nutmeg, duct tape, and an intensely herbal medicine.  It has a lovely oily quality and recalls the black burning beard of the pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard.  If you have ever accidentally singed or burned some hair you would find the experience recognizable, especially if a firework played a role.

Finish :  Lingering old salty oak with a bit of salty toffee and medicinal notes.

Score : 6

Mental Image : “Bong Water”

Something Similar : Laphroaig PX Cask (similar fireworks/smoke, sweeter, less herbal, less finish)

Something Similar : Westland Garryana 2018 Ed. (similar gunpowder & herbs, more BBQ, less burning beard)

Something Worse : Ardbeg 12 Year (1975) (similar green wood & pine, less body/finish)

Notes : When Mary Poppins advised, ‘a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,’ she had in the mind the bitter herbal medicine in this bottle.  

Most of the herbal oomph came on the palate rather than the nose.  The aroma of the dram was balanced between variations on smoke and the promise of savory barbecue and the herbal notes that complimented the fatty meat notes.  The palate offered more of the medicinal side of the dram from which SMWS plucked the code name.  A participant in the tasting proffered that the dram reminded them of ‘dirty bong water’ and the table concurred.  So it was burnt herbs— but maybe not the herb we expected.

This was an odd and deliciously pungent dram— winning a few nods as best of the evening.  I am not a huge fan of bitter burnt herbs, but this dram had enough going on that there were plenty of other notes to focus in on.  This Caol Ila had a bit of the citrus and maritime notes typical of the distillery on the nose, but they were largely buried on the palate, timidly emerging once again on the finish.