This is a pre arrival offering with a firm cutoff date. Timing is an estimate and can shift due to carrier schedules, port congestion, customs, or warehouse receiving.
Finn Thomson Whisky Caol Ila 2014, 12 Year Old, White Port Finish
Peated Caol Ila, distilled in 2014, twelve years old, finished in a white Port cask and bottled by Finn Thomson at 54.5% cask strength, natural colour, non-chill filtered. The second of the two Caol Ilas in Finn's last bottling run of 2026.
White Port is the pale cousin of the ruby and tawny most people know: made from white grapes, often aged in old wood, dry to off-dry, with honey, almond and dried apricot. It is a quieter finish than a red Port, and that is the point. It sweetens the edges of Caol Ila's lemon-and-brine smoke without turning it purple. 181 bottles worldwide, 24 of them for the United States.
About Finn Thomson Whisky
Finn Thomson is the ninth generation of Scotland's oldest whisky family. The Thomson name traces back to the 1770s through Perthshire, where Peter Thomson Ltd built the beloved Beneagles blend using casks from Longmorn, Clynelish, North British and other lesser-known workhorses.
Finn Thomson Whisky continues that tradition as an independent single cask bottler. Every release is hand-selected, bottled at cask strength, non-chill filtered, with natural colour. Eye on the past. Vision for the future. This cask was bottled at Young Spirits in Edinburgh and is imported exclusively by The Whiskey Lab.
Distillery profile, Caol Ila
- Founded in 1846 at Port Askaig on the Sound of Islay, looking across to the Paps of Jura. The largest distillery on the island.
- Owned by Diageo, and the peated backbone of Johnnie Walker. Most of it goes into blends, so single casks are the way to taste it straight.
- House style is elegant peat: cleaner and more coastal than its Islay neighbours, with lemon, brine and a grassy, oily smoke rather than tar.
- Twelve years is the sweet spot where Caol Ila's smoke is still vivid and the fruit has arrived.
Cask profile, white Port
White Port is fortified wine from the Douro made with white grapes such as Malvasia and Gouveio. Aged in seasoned oak it turns golden and nutty: honey, almond, dried apricot, a little bitter orange.
The cask passes those notes on gently. On Caol Ila the result is smoke first, then a honeyed, nutty sweetness behind it, with the distillery's lemon brightness intact. At 54.5% it stays lively.
Little Brown Dog's white Port Braeval showed what this wood can do with a Speysider; this is the Islay answer. Cask No. 312508, distilled 7 May 2014, bottled 26 August 2026, 181 bottles. The wine was a Lagrima, the sweetest style of white Port, and the cask held the whisky for its final two years.
The story of this cask, in Finn Thomson's words
This is genuinely one of my favourite Islay whiskies we have bottled, and our first release finished in a white port cask.
I had been desperate to work with white port ever since visiting Lisbon several years ago, where I discovered one of the city's trendiest drinks: white port and tonic. On a hot day overlooking the city, I watched a bartender pour a healthy measure of white port, topping it up with fresh strawberries, raspberries, mint, cucumber, tonic water and copious amounts of ice. It was a wonderfully refreshing way to enjoy local produce on a hot sunny day in Portugal's capital.
That experience stayed with me, and I knew I wanted to see what white port could bring to Islay whisky. After 10 years of maturation, this Caol Ila spent a further two years in a white port cask, specifically a Lagrima, the sweetest style of white port.
The result is a beautiful combination of smoke and white chocolate. The familiar maritime character of Caol Ila meets a rich, creamy sweetness, creating a whisky that is both distinctly Islay and wonderfully unexpected.
On Tasting Notes
You will not find tasting notes here. By design.
The Whiskey Lab publishes every technical detail a curious drinker could ask for: distillery, cask, distillation date, ABV, outturn. Everything that makes the liquid what it is. What we leave to you is the experience of drinking it.
Tasting notes shape expectation. They tell you what you should find before you find it. Our position is that the spirit in your glass should speak for itself, and what you find there belongs to you. Pour it neat. Add a few drops of water if it asks for it. Take your time. The cask did.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Brand | Finn Thomson Whisky, Private Cask Collection |
| Style | Single malt Scotch whisky, single cask, peated |
| Region | Islay |
| Distillery | Caol Ila, Port Askaig |
| Age | 12 years |
| ABV | 54.5% (cask strength) |
| Volume | 700ml |
| Cask | White Port cask finish |
| Cask number | 312508 |
| Outturn | 181 bottles |
| Distilled | 7 May 2014 |
| Bottled | 26 August 2026, Young Spirits Co, Edinburgh |
| Natural colour | Yes |
| Non-chill filtered | Yes |
| Availability | Pre-order, October Import, arrives November 4, 2026 |
The Whiskey Lab's Quality Commitments
- Single Cask & Small Batch: Ensuring a unique profile for each release.
- Natural Colour & Non-Chill Filtered: Preserving the authentic character and purity of the whisky.
- Honest Storytelling: Every cask profile written by people who actually handled the liquid.
