Caol Ila 8 Years Old 2016 Cask #311143 & 1 (Gillespie & Partners)

A Caol Ila drawn by the bottler Gillespie & Partners, distilled in 2016, from cask 311143 & 1, bottled at 56.8%, one of 40 bottles. Caol Ila is the quiet giant of Islay, vast yet refined. Its spirit also feeds blends such as Bell's and Black Bottle.

The spirit was distilled with a long fermentation and a clean cut, for a clean, coastal, oily make. First fill bourbon gave it a fuller vanilla and a touch of coconut. These first years are extractive, the oak giving lactones as coconut and vanillin as vanilla beneath a sharp, citrussy smoke. Smoked citrus and a saline minerality are the hallmarks of the make. Diageo's Special Releases have featured both peated and unpeated Caol Ila. The make balances phenolic smoke against a bright, oily citrus. The medium peating leaves a smoke that is firm but never heavy. The oily texture comes from the spirit cut, the cask adding depth around it.

At cask strength 56.8% it is muscular. Peat, smoked fish and a citrus oil, with a light vanilla and a touch of coconut. A sea salt and an olive oil note sit under the smoke. A long, briny finish ends on lemon and soft smoke. This is a lemony, coastal Islay single malt.