Caol Ila - tranquil, with a touch of TCP! Feis Ile 2014

The still house at Caol Ila offers one of the nicest views on Islay, overlooking the Paps of Jura across the Sound of Islay. The distillery, despite being the biggest producer on the island, has a tranquil feel to it and, even on Caol Ila Day, with large crowds streaming in to the grounds, it still managed to project a laid back feeling. The car park is not very big, so visitors parked in a big field near the village of Keills, and mini-buses shuttled back and forth all day long - a great idea.
The day offered up various whisky tasting experiences - straight up, blind, with food, on the sea, with music, in cocktails, in the warehouse, with the operators. Something for everyone!

Breakfast

We opted for a morning tasting with new Distillery Manager, David Wood. I had met David on my previous trip to Islay, when I had a great visit at Lagavulin, where he was Brand Manager. The tasting was in the old cooperage, which was packed with people keen to taste the collection. Not surprisingly, we bumped into our Swedish friends, unmistakeable in their custom made Hawaiian shirts.

Two of them had been coming to the Feis for five years, each time in an annual custom designed shirt. Peter Sjögren, is Marketing Manager and Partner of Svenska Eldvatten, an independent bottler in Sweden, and a good person to follow on Instagram if you like to drool over photos of rare whiskies.
David started his tasting by passing round some new make spirit, and inviting us to rub it on our hand. The unmistakeable aroma of smoke and that unique Caol Ila medicinal nose was very evident, even from this spirit straight out of the still, and not yet whisky. (Scotch whisky has to mature in oak casks for at least three years before it can be called whisky).
The Caol Ila character comes, in part, from concerto barley, malted, then dried with a peat level of around 39ppm; and a  distillation process involving lots of copper interaction. Maturation is mainly in refill hogsheads, with more emphasis on the spirit than the barrel. Of the 7 million litres produced annually, about 20% goes to malt whisky, the rest to blends. To put these volumes further into perspective, Port Ellen Malting works, also owned by Diageo, produces about 550 tonnes of malt a week, and 350 tonnes of that goes to Caol Ila.

loading the malt into trucks for the distilleries

On to the whiskies. We tasted five,
Caol Ila 12 year old. Possibly one of the most distinctive Single Malt Scotches for my nose. Aromas of TCP (an antiseptic introduced in 1918 and popular in the UK), lemon, lime, smoke, tarry seaspray; smoky and medicinal on the palate, with a long, spicy finish. As David explained, the aim is for un-influential casks to let the whisky character shine through. And it does.

Distillers Edition. Caol Ila finished in Moscatel (fortified Spanish wine) casks, which adds a fruity and mild toffee character, with the smoke kicking in afterwards. A nice combination.
Caol Ila 25 year old. Elegant with age, golden raisins, subdued but evident Caol Ila character, beautifully balanced. I'll take this medicine any day!
Stitchell Reserve. A tribute to Billy Stitchell, who retired after a very long career. (Read about my great tasting day with Billy on a previous visit). 59% ABV, about 15 years old, perfumed nose, beeswax, apple crumble and custard, spice on the palate and a long finish. Slàinte Billy!

David Wood - Caol Ila Distillery Manager

Feis Ile 2014. A 55.5% ABV 12 year old Caol Ila. 1500 bottles produced from four hogsheads. A powerful dram, perfume, peat, slight saltiness and Caol Ila on the nose; big, spicy and balanced. For lovers of strong, straight-up Caol Ila, unadulterated by special casks.
And what's required after all that Caol Ila tasting? Scallops in Caol Ila.

Typically, in my culinary neck of the woods, we eat just the white scallop body, but at the seafood stand set up for the day, they were served with the coral - the orange "tail" - attached to the body. It's not quite as flavoursome, and I didn't love the texture, but "when in Rome"......

The queue, as always during Feis Ile, afforded the opportunity to meet and chat with new folk. Bobby had been an operator for four years and I asked him how he liked the job. "Oh, it's fine" he said, "but it can be lonely work, especially on the night shift". The distillery has a number of sophisticated, computer-controlled automatic processes. Even although Caol Ila is a big producer, it doesn't need a big team to operate all the production equipment. Lonely it might be, but I'm certain that Bobby looks out, now and then, on that great view from the Still house across the Sound and considers himself a lucky fellow.

After lunch, we did some blind tasting to benefit a local charity, then went off to the cocktail bar, where our new acquaintances, Diageo Whisky Ambassadors, Colin Dunn and David Sinclair, were concocting delightful cocktails, using Caol Ila of course.

Some tranquil time by the water, with dram in hand, ended our day, then it was back to the car park/field, where we rescued some stranded tasters, who had missed their ride, and drove them back to Bowmore.
In my next post, I'll be writing about Gartbreck - soon to be Islay's next distillery. If you enjoy these stories, consider signing up for email updates. You'll only receive one when a new story is posted. Just fill in your email address in the box at the top of the blog in the right hand column.

GrapeScot Islay Tour 2015

We'll be visiting Caol Ila for one of our great experiences during the whisky tour to Islay (and Jura) in late August 2015. This will be a small group tour with terrific events at each of the distilleries, an opportunity to meet some wonderful whisky people, great accommodations, transportation, food, cultural activities and some very fine whisky. Hope you can join us!

Slàinte!

Bruichladdich rocks!

If there was a wager for the biggest party of Feis Ile, my money would be on Bruichladdich Day. Most Feis Ile Masterclasses, led by notable whisky worthies, allow one or two dozen people to attend. At best count, some 400 people enjoyed Jim McEwan's morning class on Sunday, May 25th. We arrived well before the appointed hour - a happy little journey from Port Charlotte just along the road. All seemed quiet and gentle as we wandered around the back and into warehouse 12, where the event was to take place. The room was packed with long rows of tables, each one filled with six glasses of golden elixir per place setting.

We were definitely not the first to arrive and quickly scouted out a couple of prime spots. I'm 115lbs soaking wet and could barely (no pun intended) ease my way between the tables to the chosen spot near the front. Once there, it was time to settle down and and stay put. We were going nowhere. With about 2400 drams in the room, the air was heady! Language barriers notwithstanding, everyone was getting to know his or her surrounding neighbours, and the room was a veritable global conference.

The rumours started before the announcement. The impressive looking camera crew, already in action, was from CBS 60 minutes, there to film the day for a Fall program.
Sound checks were performed by a couple of very fine folk singers, who performed during the class and the rest of the day. Robin Laing and Norma Munro were wonderful, delivering songs with great passion, including a couple of songs, by Robin, specifically about Bruichladdich - one about Black Art and the other entitled The Whisky Cathedral. The latter, sung later in the morning, had its chorus enhanced by 400 voices, after a few drams........
"In the warehouse at Bruichladdich, I drink therefore I am. A whisky cathedral where angels are singing, in praise of glorious drams".

The restless crowd, anxious for the main man, (a current day rock star-like whisky legend), roared its appreciation when Jim took the stage. Looking dapper, sprightly and happy to be there, he engaged with the crowd from the get-go. Funny, like a stand up comedian, enthusiastic and confident, like a motivational speaker, involved, like an old friend, he had the entire crowd eating out of his hand.

With stories from the past and present, introductions to other distillery folks, and revelations about the whisky selections, Jim McEwan showed, once again, why he is a unique personality in the whisky industry. Bruichladdich General Manager, Duncan McGillivray, retired now after a 40 year career, was up on stage for some well deserved appreciation.

Adam Hannet, Assistant Distillery Manager and Blender, was also in the limelight, introducing one of the whiskies and checking out centre stage, which he'll be inheriting from Jim.
On to the whiskies - some of which were glorious.....
The first one was distilled in 1984 and matured in a bourbon cask. This was one of the most brilliant whiskies I have ever tasted. I'm not going to do it the disservice of breaking it down into minute elements. It was aromatic, with some vanilla and ginger, elegant, smooth, beautifully balanced, full bodied, reminiscent of crème brûlé. Outstanding. 49.3% ABV after 30 years in the cask.

Jim called number two "Sorcery". It wasn't released, but had been pulled from the cask just for the class, 51% ABV, cask and age not revealed - Madeira, cognac, PX - a mystery! It was beautiful. Jim decided that the colour was Serengeti Sunset. Dried fruits. Luscious. Excellent.

The third one was from a 1986 distillation, matured in a PX sherry cask. Deep amber in colour with a mature sherry character, rich fruit, Christmas cake, oily, smooth and sweet, with a spicy finish. Fabulous.

It wasn't yet noon and we had tasted three brilliant single cask old gems.
Things went a little sour for me on the next one. It was a 2001 Port Charlotte rarity, matured in a Chateau d'Yquem (Sauternes) cask. Either I had a bad glass or a rotten part of the barrel or something, but this one seemed unbalanced, musty, and unappealing. I sniffed some others around and they were all a bit off. Not sure what happened there. Moving on.
Next up was the brilliantly unique Octomore 1695, quadruple distilled festival bottle. Historical records show that the first (and possibly the last) time any whisky was distilled four times was in 1695. At 69.4% ABV, this one packed a mighty punch. A very peaty nose gave way to a smooth, but fiery, whisky on the palate, with a very long, smoky, spicy, smoky again, finish. A bit of water brought out more smoke and a vegetal flavour. This was a really interesting and historically fascinating whisky. I'm sure it was gone by the end of the day.

I have little recollection about the 6th whisky. We were well over time - not that anyone minded - and were invited to raise our last dram and our country flags then join the big procession over to the main courtyard, where the gates had now been opened and hundreds more had arrived to enjoy the dramming bar, cocktails, Islay Ales, food stalls, arts and crafts, pipe bands, dancing, singing, rock music and folk music. This was a party!

Some new friends suggested that we try out an amazing buffet for lunch, a fundraiser for a local charity. It was magnificent! I spoke to one of the photographers, who had just returned from a  particularly war-weary, hostile part of the globe. Bruichladdich Day was providing a welcome change of perspective. We met up with family, enjoyed some more entertainment, then decided to head back to the cottage. With a few whisky vouchers still in hand, we opted to give them to some Danish guys. We couldn't find any Canadians and the Danish flag was red and white. Logical, no? Turned out these were the same folk who had arrived one short at Lagavulin the previous day, enabling us to snag a spot for Georgie's Masterclass. What goes around, comes around.
Click here if you'd like to read my previous post about Bruichladdich. 

Next, I'll be writing about Caol Ila Day. If you enjoy these stories, consider signing up for email updates. You'll only receive one when a new story is posted. Just fill in your email address in the box at the top of the blog in the right hand column.

GrapeScot Islay Tour 2015

We'll be visiting Bruichladdich for one of our great experiences during the whisky tour to Islay (and Jura) in late August 2015. This will be a small group tour with terrific events at each of the distilleries, an opportunity to meet some wonderful whisky people, great accommodations, transportation, food, cultural activities and some very fine whisky. Hope you can join us!

Slainte!

Domaine Perrault - a little Ottawa area winery with big personality

For a really nice Ottawa area outing, set  the GPS to 1000 Perrault Road, Navan, home of the delightful Domaine Perrault Winery.

The winery started up in 1999, and now has six acres of vines and about 6000 plants. Although grapes are brought in from Niagara to produce some of the more traditional, familiar wines like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Shiraz, Malbec, and red blends, it is the interesting range of cold climate varietals groomed to handle Ottawa winters, that produce some very tasty and interesting wines at Perrault.

When I visited about seven years ago, shortly after the wine retail store opened, I left with one bottle of wine. This weekend, I left with ten, and almost none were made from "common or garden" varietals. Grape varietals like Frontenac Gris, Louise Swanson, Marquette, Saint Pepin and others have been craftily grown and tested, and some are offered as straight varietal wines, allowing unique opportunities to taste something different from the norm. The winemaker behind all this magic is Bernard Martineau, an oenologist with 40 years of experience.

There are 14 or 15  wines available for tasting - pretty much the entire collection and, here's the thing. There's no fee for tasting, and no requirement - implied or otherwise - to buy any of the wines. Instead, there's a delightful atmosphere in the little tasting room, kind of like dropping in to visit some friends. I would bet money that no-one leaves that place without buying something, especially since the wines are eminently affordable. Perfect marketing, perfect customer service.

Julie Ricard is the super-friendly, knowledgeable, competent  sommelier/host/Jill of all trades who runs the visitor centre, pours the wine, delivers the wine-speak, handles group events, liaises with the outside world and, in short, seems invaluable. It was super busy when we were there, and although Julie seemed highly capable of juggling multiple balls and knowing who needed to taste what next, Denis Perrault, ("I'm just the owner") was helping out and pretty much manning the cash register the whole time - a comforting job for an owner of a small Domaine!

We took a quick look around the winery - a tiny, wee, climate controlled, multi-purpose building that leaves you shaking your head wondering how they can produce 23,000 bottles a year. But they do, and most of that is sold at the winery.

Some personal favourites.............
Zanibel - An off dry white with delicious aromas and flavours of fresh pears and other tree fruits, perfectly balanced with the right amount of acidity to balance the slight sweetness. $14
Gabrielle - a dry, medium bodied red made with the Marquette grape; aromas and flavours of ripe red fruit and  toffee cooking on the stove; unusual and delicious; nicely balanced, good for sipping in these dog days of summer, and a good food wine. $16
Marilys - a rich, fruity rosé, strawberry jam and a bit of that same toffee I detected in the Gabrielle. Perhaps I was just having a  toffee day! In any event, lovely nose and flavours, a full bodied rosé, versatile $15

Go visit Perrault. You won't be disappointed and I'm certain you won't leave empty-handed. Groups are also welcome for special occasion tastings at very affordable prices.

Cheers!