Caol Ila 1993 Murray McDavid & A.D. Rattray Reviews

Hi everyone,

Two Caol Ila’s from my birth year today! There’s always something special about tasting whisky from the same year as you were born, I have no idea why, it just seems to be the case.

But it gets harder and harder as you go on and, in fact, both of these bottlings were bottled a little while ago.

I can’t repeated enough that Caol Ila, when on form, can be just as good as any other Islay whisky and can often have recognisable elements of Laphroaig, Ardbeg or Lagavulin to it. It’s incredibly versatile.

Caol Ila 1993 Murray McDavid Aficionados 59.1%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Soft creamy smoke, smoky vanilla pod, a little spice- green peppercorns, clean bandages.

Taste: Citrus lemon arrival, dry then amazingly soft with creamy smoke balancing well with the cutting citrus component. Quite a Rich mouthfeel to this. Really doesn’t feel like almost 60% either!

Finish: More malty, dry and spicy.

Bottled at 13yo and stored in glass. Aceo are the company that now own Murray McDavid and they do bottlings for many other people. This one was something someone had bottled but then didn’t do anything with, so it was just sitting around in the warehouse.

78/100

 

Caol Ila 1993 A.D.Rattay 55.7%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Creamy and sulphury and smoky and awesome. Very little sweetness and fruit, maybe a little freeze dried raspberry, inner machine sludge and peat, earthy AF. A meatiness coming out now with bacon cooking away in the next room (and yes, its as delicious as it sounds).

Taste: Power power power, loads of smoke, but really really well balanced and complex, earthy, thick and oily, a little Sherry, meaty with bacon again. So great. The balance achieved with the massive power is quite striking.

Finish: Long length. Softens out nicely, some dryer oak, juicy raisin. Lovely.

Bottled at 18yo from a Sherry cask. What a Caol Ila! Never fails to amaze how good their whisky can be! Many thanks to the Toronto Whisky Society for the night of amazing drams!

88/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #809-#810

Whisky Network Reviews #963-#964

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Bowmore 1989 Murray McDavid Review

This one is special! Old Bowmore!

At the festival, you can pay (either £2.50 or £5) to try the more expensive stuff.

This is one I went for and I saved some to have at home too. It's been finished (ew) in a Chateau LaTour Red Wine cask. Well, a 5 year finish is more like a secondary maturation.

A series of short reviews from the Bristol Whisky Lounge 2016. Part 18/20

Bowmore 1989 Murray McDavid 50.4%

Colour: Dark Amber, red tint.

Body: Full

Nose: Clean. Red wine, meaty, slightly sulphury (not unpleasant), spent match, charcoal, campfire. Behind that, there's vanilla, chocolate and floral notes- Lavender, rose and dried flowers.

Water: More fruity. Blood orange, grapefruit, hot road tar, dirty and yet clean.

Taste: Intense, meaty and sulphury, building burnt flavours (somewhat unpleasant), char, charcoal, burnt rubber, raspberry, red berry. Very intense, some orange, spice building and going into the finish.

Water: Saves it. Softer arrival, building, integrated and powerful. Red fruit and berry, cranberry, complex spice, star anise and cumin.

Finish: Long length. Red berry and wood spice with charcoal and soot.

Notes: Red wine barrel 2nd maturation for 5 years. Red wine had been in the barrel for 3 years. Chateau Latour red wine. Just on the cusp of being great or terrible. Wouldn't be paying over £300 for a bottle though.

83/100

Review #117