Cooper’s Choice “Creosote & Candied Fruits” | 54.5% ABV

Score: 5/10

**Average.**
***TL;DR***
*Caol Ila nearly snuffed out.*

Is This Turning Into An Annual Review Theme Now?

Every Canada Day, the national holiday celebrating the birth of Canada, it seems like we pack up the trailer and meet up with several friends and their kids for a weekend of semi-parented stress relief.

This year, we had seven families with fifteen kids, all under the age of 7 years old. While that does sound chaotic, we have somehow stumbled across a small local town’s hidden gem of a campground and for the last two years, we have been strategically booking a ring of sites adjacent to a large grass field and the playground. With several large trees to tie-up jungle jim slack lines, we can easily let our kids run amuck, while keeping an eye on them of course, and us adults can enjoy our own beverages and play corn hole, Kubb, and just sit down and catch up with people. Suffice to say, after four days of hard playing (both kids and adults), we were all tired but mentally relieved.

So how is this turning into an annual review theme now? Well last year I reviewed a 1990s Chivas Regal 12 yo following this same epic friends camping fiesta followed by a 1600 km round-trip camping trip east of Calgary to my brother’s wedding. And this year, it looks like that is my inspiration here again. After coming home for a night to restock the trailer and do some laundry, we loaded up the truck again the next morning with our weary but excited kids and pointed ourselves west for a 530 km one-way trip through the Rocky Mountains.

Our destination was new-to-us camping zones, a recon mission of sorts. After 6 hours hammering through steep Rocky Mountain grades, 31 degree Celcius (about 91 degrees in freedom units) burning sun giving me mechanical sympathy for my 260,000 km truck loaded with 9,500 pounds of enjoyment, and some of the most picturesque terrain that many of us western Canadians take for granted, we arrived at Herald Provincial Park outside of Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Neither my wife or I had spent any time in this area previously as it is just too far to drive for weekend trips so we were exploring this area as a future holiday destination.

And boy o’ boy were we ever in for a treat. While it was blistering hot outside and our camping site did not have power to run the air conditioning, we were fearing the worst during the hot sticky nights for the kids and dogs but as it turns out, we arrived at our own slice of paradise. For the record, we are not one of those must-have-power camping princesses but when it comes to being able to leave our two dogs behind so we can go exploring without them, I do worry about heat stroke and exhaustion for them and that’s where the safety net of air conditioning comes in. But I had no need to fret after all.

An ample sized camp site surrounded by towering trees, with the piercing sun reduced to dappled specular highlights kept the temperatures and UV damage down, but best of all, I could see the Shuswap Lake from where we parked. Now I’m a prairie fellow through and through but I do love the sound of running water and a good lake and it just so happened that I had landed in paradise. Turns out that Margaret Falls, a 90 ft waterfall within walking distance of us, fed a large creek that ran right through the campground, filling the air with delectable audio morsels of babbling water.

*Margaret Falls, Herald Provincial Park, British Columbia*

With a very ample dog-friendly beach, we decided to capitalise on the weather and spend as much time as possible at the beach, dipping in and out of the cool-ish but life-saving refreshing water and enjoying ourselves. In the evenings, with no power to charge any phones, Mrs. Balfour and I played crib, read books, and in my case, went on exploratory walks (I can’t sit still all that much) in the evenings when everything quieted down.

In many cases, I had the beach all to myself in the evening at sunset. Just me, myself, and the sounds of nature with fish nibbling at the surface of the water. Bliss.

*Shuswap Lake at sunset. Broddy’s happy place.*

So how does any of this tie into this whisky? Well I had packed along many whiskies for both camping trips. However, after our friend extravaganza, I was running low on whisky and this was the lone bottle remaining for our family trip. Not a big deal as whisky and alcohol is not the path to fun or relaxation but upon discovering the beauty and our enjoyment of Herald Provincial Park, I was buzzing and excited.

Snagging the just-cracked bottle, I was suddenly running around like a goofy idiot, snapping pics of the whisky with my phone like a stinkin’ whisky influencer. And that’s how this whisky went from a “I don’t care about it”-style drinker without a cool purchasing backstory, to one that is thrust into some of Canada’s most beautiful areas. Just goes to show you, it doesn’t hurt to be spontaneous and live in the moment.

With our time in Herald and Shuswap Lake nearing a close, we decided to hop in the truck and do some exploring of the area. While we were driving in a few days prior, a few farmer’s markets stood out as well as several wineries. Now Broddy and Mrs. Balfour do enjoy our wine and after sampling a local market, we headed to a local vineyard for a wine tasting and charcuterie lunch with kids in tow before returning to save the dogs napping in the trailer.

While bringing kids to a wine tasting is obviously not what everyone’s ideal ambiance is like, we very much like to drag our kids around to wherever we are going, broadening their experiences along the way. Perching ourselves on the sun-soaked patio of Sunnybrae vineyard, we looked out across the very close Shuswap Lake and again asked ourselves why we live where we do and do the jobs that we do.

These little glimpses of a different life make it all the more enticing to root ourselves up and make a major life change. With a flight of white and a flight of red wine dutifully placed on the table, snapping us back to reality and our astute eldest five year old making very correct observations in which orders to enjoy the wines following the helpful staff’s recommendations, we set about enjoying ourselves with brie, salami, crackers, and local wine.

I’m quite sure it’s not an everyday occurrence for this small just over seven acre vineyard that a young family walks in for food and wine and walks out with a full 12-bottle case of wine, but when the mood strikes, you just gotta go full send.

The next morning with the Balfour missile pointed east towards home, we set out again but this time, only a short 1.5 hour leg of the drive to Martha Creek near Revelstoke, BC. Perched immediately adjacent to a man-made reservoir feeding a hydroelectric dam, Martha Creek exploded our brains with natural beauty when this stop was just meant as a drive-through stay. Funny how that always works out hey?

Again pulling up on another 30+ Celsius afternoon, we quickly threw out some shade and dabbled into the glacier fed water. Heck, we could still see snow on the tops of the nearby mountains!

With our bellies full and bodies cooled down in a post-supper dip into the quite cold but crystal clear waters, we eased off to sleep while breathing deep the clean mountain air.

*Martha Creek Campground, Revelstoke, British Columbia, with my Little Lady admiring the views.*

Day two at Martha Creek saw us grab the opportunity to explore the area further, with a drive up the Meadows in the Sky Parkway. This otherworldly area, accessible with a twisty and windy 26 km road ascending Mount Revelstoke, is the world’s only inland cedar hemlock rainforest. How cool is that! While we couldn’t get all the way to the summit because we had the dogs with us and with significant bear activity in the area, we weren’t allowed to go all the way to the top since others had ruined the fun with off-leash dogs dicing it up with the bears in years prior, it was still a super cool experience and one we will do again (sans dogs) so we can summit the mountain.

Following a rip back down the mountain and refuelling our bellies in town, we drove to Sutherland Falls, a roaring 45 ft waterfall on the other side of Revelstoke. This being an exploratory mission and all, we poked our heads into the immediately adjacent campground and discovered another oasis. Nestled in amongst the tree was a crystal clear sandy beach lagoon with kids splashing around, stand up paddleboarders making their way lazily across the placid water, and a playground and volleyball court. After returning from this quick recon mission while I waited in the truck with the kids and dogs, Mrs. Balfour returned with a wide smile and a twinkle in her eye before gushing that we’re going to have to come back here and flashing some enticing pictures. This trip to BC was turning out better and better!

*Sutherland Falls, Blanket Creek Provincial Park*

With my obsession with waterfalls satiated and our internal temps rising, we hurtled towards our trailer to quickly change into our water gear and begin cooling off in the cold lake a stone's throw from our trailer. Getting the kids lathered in sunscreen and the dogs on their long swimming leashes, we spent the next few hours in blissful peace frolicking about.

*Pebbles, our rescued Husky-mix, contemplating a dip from a floating cantilevered log*

A quick and simple dinner later, the kids were knackered and went to bed without fuss. Another night with no power and no cell service saw my wife and I just enjoying the surroundings. No emails, messages, updates, notifications. Just us and nature. With the dishes done, dogs fed and walked, wet swimming paraphernalia hung to dry, and general campsite cleaning completed since there were bears in the area, we sat back. But what to drink? While you’ve glimpsed a portion of my wine obsession, the Balfour’s also enjoy good cider’s. Cracking a bottle from Le Petit Abeille, a favourite of ours, we revelled in the slowly fading sun and the sparkling glimmers of the brightest stars beginning to peek through the waning evening light. Not every night needs to be a whisky night!

*A lovely cider after a long hot day was perfect, with doggo #2 Cricket the Corgi hiding in the background*

Waking up to a sunny bluebird sky the next day, it was a sad affair knowing we’ve got to pack up and finish the remaining 4.5 hour drive home to start work the next day. You’ve sold me Revelstoke and Shuswap. We will be back, and next time, ‘ole Broddy’s bringing his real camera and not just his phone. I can’t wait!

ps: why no real camera Broddy? Well with 2 kids and 2 dogs continuously running around at mach schnell, I’d need to sprout a few extra limbs to hold everything together. So all you’ve got is some phone snaps with some Lightroom tweaks to limited dynamic range JPEGs. I’ll be more prepared next time, perhaps even just for my now-annual mid-year vacation trip turning into Dramface fodder articles. Plus it's your incentive to travel to some of the most gorgeous parts of Canada too!

Review

Caol Ila “Creosote and Candied Fruits”, Madeira Cask Finish, Cooper’s Choice, cask 310123, Bottled 2022, 360 bottles total, Non-Age Stated, Fully Natural, 54.5% ABV
$100 CAD

Alright, back to whisky, which may or may not be why you’re here on our humble reader-funded site (joking, I’m not an epic storyteller like our dear Dougie). Like I mentioned before, I didn’t have a good story for purchasing this bottle. I like Caol Ila. I like candied fruits. When this went on sale, I snapped it up to drink and enjoy. This was also my first foray into the Cooper’s Choice arena as well so I had no idea what to expect. As you’ve glimpsed so far, I didn’t quite connect with one of my favourite peated spirits. Let’s find out why.

Nose

On first crack… what the heck is this? I could barely determine if this was actually Caol Ila or not. My mind's eye wandered more towards Ardmore/Kilchoman than my beloved Caol Ila. There was a very dense and toffee/caramel sweet layer blanketing the entire nose, with a wet earthy-style of peat. Only the hand test allows the lovely citric and dry peat aspects of Caol Ila to finally poke out.

After a few weeks and several drams, the headspace in the bottle has resulted in some marked changes in the nose. The citric and seaside beachwood bonfire notes of Caol Ila that I adore are more prominent, evenly duking it out with the caramel sauce notes. Notes of vanilla are buried underneath. It’s now a “nice” nose, albeit somewhat simple.

Palate

Whereas the nose changed with time, the palate has remained quite similar during my time with this bottle. Densely toffee and caramel sweet, almost as if someone had dumped caramel sauce into the bottle with the corresponding uptick in syrupy mouthfeel. This drinks fairly hot for the %abv, with some alcoholic black pepper bite on your tongue and as it slides down my gullet.

The Caol Ila house style barely treads water here. Some aspects of dry peat emerge at the outset, only to be swamped by a tidal wave of caramel sweetness and alcohol bite, before bobbing up for air on the trailing finish with its citrus and dry peat smoke remaining firmly lodged within the ocean of caramel sauce notes. The finish drags on for quite a long time, an important factor for me, and after 5 minutes from the fourth sip, I finally get some candied apples, sticky tar, and earthy peat notes. These 20+ minute notes then colour the next few sips, building the idea of alignment to the official description. It’s loose at best.

The Dregs

Some real talk… I feel it’s kinda hard to screw up a Caol Ila. This ubiquitous and recognizable Islay powerhouse produces some good juice, and with some honest time and good casking we very often end up with good whiskies. I feel that Caol Ila, at least on Dramface’s scoring guide, could be as low as a 5 and can easily reach an 8, so this one is scraping the bottom. What happened?

This was my first Madeira casked whisky so perhaps that was the culprit? Not knowing anything about it, I dug into the tangle of internet articles to sort it out for myself. Madeira is made on Madeira (duh), a Portuguese island off the African coast and actually has some quite interesting history. Near the end of the 15th Century, Madeira was an important shipping hub before ships set off for North America or the East Indies. For the Madeira wine to survive long voyages at sea without spoiling, neutral grape spirit was added to the barrels before being stored aboard for the voyage.

Apparently an unsold or unconsumed portion of Madeira returned back to the islands after which it was discovered that the quality of the fortified wine was much higher than when it left. It was determined that the high temperatures within the ship’s holds was doing some interesting maturation to the drink. Soon, winemakers were purposely heating and cooling their barrels of Madeira by rolling them out into the hot sun or heating storage sheds, replicating the thermal cycles of ocean going vessels. Barrels were often not topped up during ageing either, something atypical in traditional wine making but somewhat akin to sherry production, although one could argue that with sherries solera system, the length of time spent with significant head space is less than Madeira could be. The grapes used for making Madeira are picked earlier in the season, resulting in a lower sugar content but much higher acidity. None of this was sounding too atypical for fortified wine barrel usage by the whisky industry, before I kept researching and some alarm bells started in the distance.

Let’s talk about Madeira styles: blended and single varietal. Blended Madeira’s are much like they sound, a blend of several grapes and aged for different periods, with varying quality:

Finest: typically 3 yo made primarily with Tinta Negra grape. Usually for cooking duty.
Rainwater: at least 3 yo Tinta Negra grape Madeira, supposedly “fruity” and good for cooking or mixing in cocktails.
Reserve is 5-10 yo, Special Reserve is 10-15 yo with more attention paid to the winemaking, and Extra Reserve is 15-20 yo.
20 Year Old “is a multi-vintage blend that incorporates wines from several different years proven by a panel to taste at least 20 years old” [Wine Folly]. 30 Year Old and 40 Year Old blended bottlings of Madeira follow-suit.

Right, so blended Madeira’s could be analogous to some cream sherries if I’m painting with a broad brush. Some diamonds in the rough but generally not going to light your hair on fire upon consuming these, especially at the lower end of the spectrum. Next up is the single vintage stuff, which is purportedly where the good stuff comes from:

Sercial: bright, lemony, herby, and stony mineral
Verdelho: smokier, spice, light caramel
Boal: very aromatic and sweet dessert wine, with roasted coffee, salted caramel, bitter cacao, dates, and raisins
Malmsey: richest and sweetest of the Madeira’s, with fruity, roasted nut and chocolate notes.

Alright, so apparently there can be a huge spread in Madeira quality, with some relegated to primarily cooking duties while others could be centuries old and are basically liquid dessert. Interesting, but sounds like a minefield for a whisky producer/bottler who may not fully know the history of a particular “Madeira” cask. Then I kept reading further and certain items began to crystallise further in my noggin. While we would like to think there’s a certain degree of romanticism with working with barrels and their magical role in maturing spirits of all kinds, this is where the folks making Madeira got clever.

There are two primary methods for replicating the heating and cooling cycles: Canteiro and Estufagem/Estufas. Right, so Canteiro is what we would imagine the old-school methods would be, using the sun or warming the barrels in rooms, allowing a very gradual caramelization of the sugars in the barrels to occur naturally over time. Estufas on the other hand are far more aggressive. Historically, special ovens would heat the many barrels to accelerate the process but recently, 20,000-100,000 liter heated stainless steel tanks are used to hold the fortified wine at 45-50 Celcius for three months, driving an accelerated caramelization of the wine. These wines are then put into barreling to reach the requisite age however the spread in quality from these bulk-accelerated products can vary significantly. Even in these large stainless tanks, the wines are allowed to oxidise, drastically increasing their shelf life. If you want to nerd out, find yourself a copy of Rosa Perestrolo et. al’s Distinctive Characteristics of Madeira Wine Regarding Its Traditional Winemaking and Modern Analytical Methodologies, published in 2011.

Now I’ve obviously condensed many things, obfuscating some nuances and obliterating some history, but I think I’ve got to a point of understanding Madeira and hopefully you do as well. It can have a massive spread in quality and experience, ranging from 3 yo cooking-grade wine to 100+ yo bonkers crazy stuff. Nowhere did I read that the Madeira industry made whisky-specific seasoned barrels so it’s very likely that whiskies that’ve touched a Madeira barrel have been a barrel used for maturation of this fortified wine (compared to a purpose-made sherry seasoned barrel).

So what happened to my Caol Ila here? Well, I wouldn’t point any fingers at the Madeira and there are no obvious off-putting flavours or notes here. The Madeira seemed to have been of good quality, or at least didn’t impart anything obviously negative behind. Instead, I think this Caol Ila met its match against this fortified wine, nearly getting run over with the power of whatever was in there before. I’d have loved to see this Madeira finish at half or a third of the undisclosed finish length.

Will I be chasing Cooper’s Choice in the future? This being my first foray, I feel somewhat blindsided. We are human after all and first impressions go a long way in colouring future interactions, whisky and otherwise. Perhaps yes, but I will be judicious with my purchases in the future. Nowhere in my research of “typical” Madeira wine notes did I stumble across significant “fruity” notes, they appear more along the lines of caramel and dark roasty notes. More brown (sweet not savoury) and less red/white (fruity) in a colour spectrum. I’ve got lots of experience with creosote (old railway ties from my childhood are vividly ingrained in my smell-o-vision) and there is absolutely no detectable sense of candied fruits, so the title by Cooper’s Choice does not match my experience here at all. I finally got some alignment with the official notes after many sips and a long-time spent with the whisky. Much like shaking the hand of someone you’ve just met, most of our judgement comes from the first few initial interactions, and the experience of this whisky doesn’t match the title, almost like an imposter wearing a fancy suit with bad tailoring. It just sends the spidey-senses tingling.

This struggles to a 5/10.

Score: 5/10

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB

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