Caol Ila 8 Years Old 2013 Cask #300371 (Adelphi)

A Caol Ila drawn by the Adelphi bottler, distilled in 2013, from cask 300371, bottled at 58.4%, one of 324 bottles. Caol Ila is the lighter, more elegant face of Islay smoke. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries.

This was distilled slowly from peated malt for a refined island smoke, for a smoke more elegant than heavy. A fresh bourbon barrel lent vanilla, coconut and a fuller body. In its extractive youth the spirit takes vanillin vanilla and lactone coconut quickly, the peat phenols vivid and lemony. The peat here is medium rather than heavy, so fruit and smoke share the glass. A clean smoke and a coastal salt define the distillery style. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit. Maturation by the sea gives the malt its mineral, sea spray character. The spirit's high notes of lemon and grass survive even long maturation.

At a hearty 58.4% it carries real weight. Ashy smoke, lemon oil and a saline tang, with honeyed oak underneath. The oily body carries the smoke long and clean. A long, briny finish ends on lemon and soft smoke. This is the elegant, lighter side of Islay.