Caol Ila 31 Years Connoisseurs Choice 1988 G&M 70 CL 51,4%
Limited Single Malt Scotch Whisky
This delightful 31-year-old Islay single malt was laid to rest at the Caol Ila distillery in 1988 and bottled for the revived Gordon & MacPhail’s Connoisseurs Choice range on 13 January 2021.
Drawn from refill sherry butt number 225 with a natural strength of 51.4%, this Islay beauty is one of 518 bottles that comes complete with a fine oak.
Caol Ila 1988 Gordon and MacPhail 31 year old batch 20/006
Caol Ila Distillery was built in 1846 by Hector Henderson, who was bought out of the business just over 10 years later by Bulloch Lade. The blending company merged with DCL (now Diageo) in 1927, which still operates the distillery today. In 1972, the original lot was demolished and replaced by a new one. When distilling resumed in 1974, Caol Ila was the largest single malt producer on the Isle of Islay. Despite this, due to its importance in popular blends such as Johnnie Walker, its single malt brand disappeared under United Distillers and it wasn’t until 2002 that it would return when the 12-year-old was revived by Diageo. The Flora & Fauna release was well-regarded in the meantime, but it was independent releases like this that provided the best opportunity to sample this much-loved single malt.
This whiskey was distilled in 1988 and rested in refill ex-Sherry Butt #255 for 31 years before being bottled on 13 January 2020.
Gordon & MacPhail is one of the largest and most recognizable whiskey companies in the world. Although they began distilling at the newly renovated Benromach Distillery in 1998, for most of their history they were an independent bottler. Their labels are recognized by whiskey lovers worldwide, and their licensed bottlings from distilleries such as Macallan and Talisker in the 1970s and 1980s, when the companies did not bottle themselves, are a large part of the success of these distilleries today.
The Connoisseurs Choice brand is one of the most recognizable independent bottlings on the market and this release follows the 2018 rejuvenation of the brand which saw it rebranded as a premium range of single casks.
