Caol Ila 26 Years Old 1984 Cask #DL 6207 (Douglas Laing)

From the Glasgow bottler Douglas Laing, a 26 year old Caol Ila, distilled in 1984, from cask DL 6207, bottled at 50%, one of 268 bottles. Caol Ila is the most heavily bottled of all the Islay malts. Water falls to the distillery from Loch nam Ban in the hills above.

It was drawn off the distillery's six tall stills from peated barley, for a smoke more elegant than heavy. First fill bourbon gave it a fuller vanilla and a touch of coconut. Through the evaporative decades concentration deepens the oils, lactones and esters folding into mango and beeswax, the phenols a memory. The peat here is medium rather than heavy, so fruit and smoke share the glass. Olive oil and lemon sit at the heart of the Caol Ila character. The original Victorian distillery was almost entirely rebuilt in the modern era. A gentle vanillin sweetness from the oak balances the coastal phenols.

At a natural 50% it is full and oily. Sea spray, smoke and a citrus lift, with honeyed oak underneath. An oily smoke coats the palate, citrus and brine behind. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is the elegant, lighter side of Islay.