Caol Ila Natural Cask Strength (58.6%)

Caol Ila, a distillery release, at 58.6%. Caol Ila makes a clean, maritime malt on the east coast of Islay. The original Victorian distillery was almost entirely rebuilt in the modern era.

The spirit was distilled with a long fermentation and a clean cut, giving a clean, lemony peat. A refill bourbon hogshead held it, keeping the distillery character to the fore. With no age statement, the oak has given up its vanillin as vanilla and its oak lactones as coconut, set against the lemony guaiacol of the peat smoke. The peat here is medium rather than heavy, so fruit and smoke share the glass. A gentle vanillin sweetness from the oak balances the coastal phenols. Caol Ila's smoke leans to lemon, olive oil and brine rather than tar or iodine. Refill oak lets the maritime peat and lemon of the spirit lead the way. Water falls to the distillery from Loch nam Ban in the hills above.

At its natural 58.6% it is concentrated. A smoky, briny coastal character, with vanilla and a honeyed edge from the cask. A sea salt and an olive oil note sit under the smoke. The finish is long, smoky and citrussy. This is Caol Ila's lighter, maritime Islay smoke.