Caol Ila 1981 - 21 Year Old - First Cask - Single Cask 281

Founded in 1846, Caol Ila distillery was taken over by Diageo forerunner DCL in 1927. The distillery was completely rebuilt in 1972-74 and now produces over 6 million litres annually, much of which goes into Johnnie Walker. The widespread belief that Caol Ila is Islay’s most underrated distillery has become a truth so universally acknowledged that it may no longer be true, though it remains in the shadow of Bowmore and the south coast distilleries. 

Official Caol Ilas were bottled sporadically before Diageo relaunched it as a single malt brand in 2002. A famous yellow label 12-year-old and a rare 15-year-old occasionally appeared under DCL’s Bulloch & Lade subsidiary from the 1960s onwards, and there was a short-lived Flora & Fauna 15-year-old in the late 1980s and a magnificent sherried 15-year-old Manager’s Dram bottled in 1990. Independent Caol Ila is abundant and always great value.

The First Cask range was a prolific series of single malt whisky bottlings by the UK’s largest mail order wine company Direct Wines Ltd, owner of Laithwaite’s and The Sunday Times Wine Club. From the early 1990s until the mid-Noughties Direct Wines released dozens of outstanding single cask whiskies annually under the First Cask label, almost all of which were bottled at 46%.

These whiskies were not particularly highly sought-after on release, probably because they were only sold online through a wine club.  Back then, of course, it was not widely known that the casks had been sourced from Signatory Vintage, which would certainly have raised their profile among whisky fans. Nowadays, although still frequently excellent value at auction, the First Cask collection - which includes hundreds of long-aged whiskies from distilleries including Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Macallan - is finally getting the recognition it deserves.