Caol Ila 33 Years Old 1983 (Single Cask)

Single Cask

700ml / 50.2%

Single Malt

$1234

Drawn by Scotland’s oldest independent bottler Cadenhead’s, a 33 year old Caol Ila, at 50.2%. A bonfire smoke threads through lemon, brine and oil. It stands at Port Askaig, facing Jura across the Sound. Its tall stills give a lighter, cleaner island spirit. Among the most widely traded of Islay’s single malts. This is a finely judged Islay single malt.

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SKU CIL186 Categories Caol Ila, Islay, Scottish Whisky, Whiskey Brand: Caol Ila

Description

A Caol Ila drawn by Scotland's oldest independent bottler Cadenhead's, distilled in 1983, bottled at 50.2%, one of 198 bottles. Caol Ila looks out across the Sound to the Paps of Jura. The six tall stills sit behind picture windows looking out to Jura.

Here the spirit was distilled in tall stills that lend the smoke an oily lightness, shaping the lighter side of Islay. A bourbon barrel held it, the oak lending vanilla and a little cream. At this great, fragile age oxidation has the last word, ethereal esters, beeswax and old polished tannins where the smoke once was. The medium peating leaves a smoke that is firm but never heavy. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit. Years in oak round the smoke, the peat mellowing while the brine stays. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries.

Bottled at a cask strength 50.2%, it is intense. Sea spray, smoke and a citrus lift, with a quiet vanilla under the smoke. Soft smoke and citrus sit behind the cask. The finish runs oily, smoky and clean. This is one of the most versatile of the Islay malts.