Caol Ila 30 Years Old 1984 Cask #3125 (G&M)

From the Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail, a 30 year old Caol Ila, distilled in 1984, from cask 3125, bottled at 46%, one of 276 bottles. Caol Ila looks out across the Sound to the Paps of Jura. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

It was drawn off a high cut from peated barley, for a smoke more elegant than heavy. Ex-Sherry wood added a dried fruit richness beneath the smoke. At an ethereal, fragile age the spirit turns delicate, sotolon lending a maple and old oak depth as beeswax and a ghost of smoke linger. The clean, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while holding its citrus and smoke. A gentle vanillin sweetness from the oak balances the coastal phenols. Active wood frames the smoke without smothering the citrus beneath. Long ageing turns the young, sharp peat into a soft, coastal smoke.

Bottled at 46%, it is rounded. Smoked lemon, brine and a green olive note, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. A long, coastal finish carries a peaty warmth. This is a maritime, lemony Islay single malt.