North Star Spirits Caol Ila 7yo Single Cask

The Maker

North Star Spirits is a relatively new entrant among the growing Independent Bottling market having been established by husband and wife team Iain and Zoe Croucher as recently as 2016. In the few years which have since passed the pair have managed to establish themselves as one of the more exciting and affordable indi releasers on the market.

At the heart of the North Star ethos appears to be transparency and fun. There’s no standing on ceremony with their releases, no pompous labelling, no undue reverence or marketing slights of hand. In contrast you always know exactly what you’re getting, warts and all, and that it’s delivered to you at a fair price.

Like a number of others, North Star works by seeking to release six to twelve bottles a quarter (more or less), but each of those is based around the idea of hunting down what they term ‘curiosities’, rather than safe bets. This desire has grown across a series of release slates from Single Cask specials through to blended malts and Scotches, and even the occasional rum.

The advantage of such an approach is the likelihood of getting something unlike what you’ve had before. The trade-off however, is that once it’s gone you’re unlikely to ever have it again. Something which in of itself has always been the appeal of Independent Bottlers as far as I’m concerned.

Beyond that there isn’t a huge amount to say about North Star. They seem to be going from strength to strength off the back of positive comments from across the whisky community. indeed, business must be going particularly well for them at the moment given that they have recently announced plans to develop their own distillery down in Campbeltown called Dál Riata. This was recently announced alongside a limited range of ‘South Star’ releases.

This new distillery will apparently have a capacity of 850,000 litres (which is slightly more than the nearby heavyweight Springbank), and construction is expected to get underway shortly. All being well we might be getting some original produce to match the current standing of the brand by the end of this decade.

The Expression

I’ve always believed you can’t go wrong with a Caol Ila so that’s where I’ve headed once again for my first full North Star bottling.

Founded way back in 1846 and named for its location overlooking the Islay Straight between it and Jura, Caol Ila has gone through numerous guises over the centuries. Depending on how you count, the distillery has changed hands at least seven times since operations began, with the main warehouse now the only original component of the site remaining. The rest was rebuilt in the 1970s. This rebuild includes a rather brutalist glass fronted stillhouse which looks like one of those buildings from Stingray that might just disappear underground at the first sign of trouble.

Caol Ila claim that what makes their whisky unique is that they only ever fill their stills to one third capacity. This apparently allows a higher level of 'reflux' (evaporation and re-condensation of the spirit within the still before it leaves for the condenser). It’s said that this makes the whisky lighter and adds an additional minerality. I have to confess that my main distinctive tasting note tends to be the oiliness, so I’m not sure how much that conflicts with the official spiel. Either way it’s rarely anything short of a delightful dram and has a bit of a reputation for being an ‘unbreakable spirit’ – basically you can’t make a truly bad Caol Ila, just the odd very average one (here’s looking at you Caol Ila Moch!).

Being a core part of the massive Diageo empire has afforded Caol Ila the luxury to overproduce and still be willing to experiment with all kinds of whiskies at very different price points. In part this is why it has also become a favoured source for independent bottlers who know they can almost always get a hold of a good quality cask and be given the creative freedom to do with it as they like.

As a results, Independent Bottlers like North Star are the place to go if you want to see what Caol Ila can be like at its best, and this example is no exception. Distilled in July 2013 and matured for seven years in a single refill sherry butt, this May 2021 release is one of just 622 bottles and comes in at a very punchy 60.9%! As is always the case with these single cask releases it’s also non-chill filtered and of natural colour.

The Neck Pour

Blimey! This isn’t your standard Caol Ila. Everything you expect is here. The salty oiliness. The citrus notes and heavy campfire peat smoke. The allegedly reflux inspired minerality. It’s just that it’s been supercharged to a totally different level of intensity.

I’ve had plenty of Caol Ila’s over the years, but I’m yet to encounter one which gives you a big slap in the face quite like this one. If anything it’s more of a heavyweight punch! Yes it might not have the subtlety of an older distillery exclusive or the refinement of something like the Carn Mor release I reviewed last year, but with that huge cask strength flavour hit it’s obviously seeking to do something very different.

It’s also a good example of what can be achieved with a refill sherry butt where the cask influence is more limited from that reuse. Caol Ila naturally works well with Sherry, but can at times become too dry. The use of the refill here holds back that influence so the sherry works to round off the youth, but without distracting from those raw Caol Ila flavours I’m so often chasing from this distillery but can no longer find in many of the core range releases.

The Body

I’ve made a point of giving a dram of this to as many friends as possible over the past few months. Everyone has loved it. My wife and I have taken to contrasting it with the other Caol Ila on the shelf from the recently reviewed Moch, through to the standard 12yo release and something special we picked up on Islay a few years back (to be reviewed in the distant future). For me this beats them all. And it beats them easily. This is something which is especially positive considering that at sub £50 I think this might well be the cheapest bottle of Caol Ila I’ve got - aside from the standard 12yo.

As the bottle goes down the flavours are opening up a bit. That BBQ peat smoke still starts off the journey but what follows on is a growing fruitiness. While this is citrus dominated initially with lemons and grapefruit they are starting to give way to something akin roasted pineapple and also a good chunk of watermelon towards the finish.

But then those savoury notes of smoked fish and tobacco come back and even a fair bit more sherry sweetness at the end that simply wasn’t there upon opening. I had feared that something this strong and intense would be a bit of a one trick pony. But the bottle keeps giving that little bit more as I return to it.

Final Thoughts

As the bottle heads towards its sad end I’ve taken to experimenting with water. As I’ve said in previous reviews I’ve been trying to do this a bit more with stronger releases like this but I keep finding that while I do find new things, I still enjoy it more neat. Given the strength and flavour intensity of this release I’ve found much more to be gained from additional water than I would normally.

It really brings out the Sherry sweetness and the oils create much more of a double cream like texture. Everything else on the other hand becomes more toned down as you’d expect, but along with it comes additional accessibility. An exception perhaps are the sour citrus notes and perhaps even an additional bitterness on the finish which well compliments that ever present salty peat-smoke and char which makes the whole thing a little like licking a big piece of driftwood.

This little bottle really was something a little special as far as I’m concerned. Having drunk dozens upon dozens of Caol Ila over the years this one still managed to be a largely unique experience. Some of that is of course down to bottling strength. But more so, especially when you take down the strength, is down to this simply being a very well matured spirit with a level of complexity and intensity which I’ve not previously found before to this extent. All very impressive for under £50.