Caol Ila

As discussed in my last post, this year’s reviews of the Diageo Special Releases takes a slightly different slant – knowing I was off to New York City and going to be meeting up with some of the #whiskyfabric, I decided to take a few of the samples I received along with me so I could receive collective input on them from some big whisky lovers.

I couldn’t, however, take them all with me partly because a) I didn’t know if we’d get through them all and b) I was hedging my bets in case my luggage got lost. As such, some were reviewed by just me, myself and I while still here in London.

As background, these whiskies make up a yearly collection from both open and closed distilleries owned by drinks giant Diageo. I’ve written about them previously (you can check those posts out here) and there is no doubt that the releases split people down the middle. Why? Because of the pricing – that never-ending debate in the world of whisky right now around when is something priced too high for its own good…

This year’s collection of 11 Special Releases ranges from £75 through to £2,200, making it a tricky one to review for me: after all, I know a lot of people won’t get to try all of these, but I equally am keen to put out my thoughts on them on the off-chance you do come across a one and are curious if it is worth your money investing in either a full bottle, a dram or neither.

In some ways, I definitely see the point of people who say they’re getting too pricy – after all, back in 2011 the Brora 30 [...]