Fable Whiskey Chapter 1 “Clanyard” Caol Ila 10 Years 57.3%

Fable Whiskey Chapter 1 The Ghost Piper of Clanyard Bay is first fable episode which delves into the legend of 'The Ghost Piper of Clanyard Bay', a story that comes from the south west coast of Scotland near Stranraer. In collaboration with the artist Hugo Cuellar, an enchanted world has been created, from which label illustrations highlighting characters and scenes make up a set of eleven chapters.

Scent: There is initially a BBQ smoked component with lemon salt and bacon, followed by ash, sea air, licorice, toasted bread. Add a few drops of water and it will soften with fresh coastal notes and seaweed.

Taste: Leathery with honey-like sweetness, toasted bread with seeds, white pepper, lots of spice with bold lemon drops.

Fable Whiskey Chapter 1 has a medium finish with smoked meat and charred lemon peel in a light but full-bodied well-balanced whisky.

Fable is a new independent bottler and a new Brand that was created in 2020, but only now we see their whiskey when the pandemic came and the world shut down. So let us rejoice that the world has opened up again.

See the story of their new series here:

About the distillery

Caol Ila Was founded in 1846 by Hector Henderson. The distillery was built close to Port Asking with a view over the fjord, where the island of Jura lies on the other side. The name is Gaelic for "Sound of Islay". In 1879, a wharf was built in front of the distillery so that casks could be shipped more quickly to "warehouses" in Glasgow, where they were finished storing. Something that is also done to this day at the Grain distilleries Cambus and Cameronbridge. Here you don't have the large storage capacity at the distillery itself.

Although Caol Ila has been a very successful distillery from the start due to high demand from whiskey blenders, it has been closed during the period: from 1930-37, 1941-45 and 1972-74

Upon reopening in 1974, it was the new distillery that was to continue production. The old one was torn down after long and faithful service. But when the crisis came again in 1980, new thinking had to be done again in order to keep production up. Therefore, what is called "Highland style", an unsmoked malt whiskey made at the distillery in periods, was created.

Once again Caol Ila had shown that they could deliver all types of whisky. Blenders thus had more options to choose from. And it is not for nothing that they call Caol Ila distillery "Working Horse Distillery" because of the way they run.

The first official bottling from Caol Ila came in 2002, but this is not where they put the main focus. It continues to focus on Blended whiskey and a small sale to independent whiskey bottlers (such as Fable).