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Fellow Drammers!
You’re invited to join us for a special tasting on Wednesday, Dec. 9th starting at 5pm Pacific / 8pm EST in the US and 20:00 in Scotland with Ewan Morgan, the National Program Director for Diageo entire portfolio of legendary single malts. This tasting will be laser-focused on the iconic Caol Ila distillery on Islay, and will feature 6 expressions, 5 of which you will likely not have another chance to try (all basically distillery-exclusives, with nominal exception). As many of you know, there is an annual festival on Islay every May, and our club is always there in force, with 20+ of our members usually joining in the fun. Caol Ila (like all the distilleries) releases a special limited edition bottling the morning of their big “Open Day” each year, as well as distillery-exclusive fill-you-own bottlings etc., and this event will feature all of those Caol Ila releases for the last 2 years, specifically:
Feis Ile 2025 Bottling. Every May, Caol Ila throws a big party as part of the Feis Ile festivities, and our club is there in force to celebrate. They release a limited edition release for each festival, and this was the 2025 bottling - aged for 8 years, initially matured in ex-PX and Oloroso sherry refill butts and hogsheads, and then finished for 1.5 years in toasted Colombian oak (Quercus Humboldtii). Only 1,476 bottles released. 55.8% abv
Feis Ile 2026 Bottling. This was the 2026 release: an 11yo initially matured in 1st fill ex-bourbon casks, and finished for 2 years in Don Julio tequila casks. Only 1,080 bottles released, and we snagged 2 of them. 56.1% abv
Feis 2025 - Distillery Fill-Your-Own Single Cask. If you visit the distillery, they have a fill-your-own single barrel on offer, including this one that was in the shop during this year's Open Day at Feis Ile on May 26th, 2025. Batch #004, matured in a 1st-fill bourbon cask, aged 10 years, 54.9% abv.
Feis 2026 - Distillery Fill-Your-Own Single Cask. This was the next fill-your-own cask offering, which was available in the gift shop from approximately November 2025 to September 2026. Again a 10yo in a first-fill bourbon hogshead, batch #5, 56.7% abv.
The Four Corners of Scotland Collection 14yo. One of only 3,000 bottles released, this limtied edition 2022 bottling was released in honor of the reopening of the renovated Caol Ila distillery, using refill and freshly charred hogsheads. As you probably know, Diageo is very proud of the fact that Caol Ila makes up one of the 4 key components (the "Four Corners") of the Johnnie Walker portfolio, hence the name. To our knowledge this was a distillery exclusive, though some bottles may have been sold through the Diageo website. 53.0% abv
Caol Ila 12yo. And of course we wanted to include their iconic 12yo flagship as a reference point. Heavily peated Islay single malt, and the backbone of Johnnie Walker. 43% abv. Unlike everything else in this tasting, this one you can actually buy in stores! :)
That’s our lineup, we hope you can join us! As always, there is a small chance this lineup may change slightly if our guest speaker requests any changes, but that is fairly rare (and if it happens, it’ll no doubt just get even better). The event will take place over Zoom and we will circulate the login details closer to the event. We hope you can join us, please let us know if you have any questions!
Cheers,
Drammers Club