Caol Ila 11 Years Old 2012 Cask #323422/3 (Blackadder)

The bottler Blackadder bottled this Caol Ila, an 11 year old, distilled in 2012, from cask 323422/3, bottled at 58.1%, one of 150 bottles. Caol Ila is among the most widely traded of Islay's single malts. Port Askaig is a tiny settlement on the rugged east coast of Islay.

Here the spirit was run from peated malt through tall stills on Loch nam Ban water, building a refined, maritime peat. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. Through integration the spirit and cask settle, lactone coconut and a soft vanillin balancing the easing phenols. The oily texture comes from the spirit cut, the cask adding depth around it. Long ageing turns the young, sharp peat into a soft, coastal smoke. The cool Islay air gives a slow, steady maturation by the shore. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries.

At a natural 58.1% it is full and oily. A clean maritime smoke with lemon and brine, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The oily body carries the smoke long and clean. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is a clean Islay smoke from the island's largest distillery.