Caol Ila 11 Years Old 1990 Cask #99/47 1,2 (Private Collection)

The Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail released this Caol Ila, an 11 year old, distilled in 1990, from cask 99/47 1,2, bottled at 40%, one of 1950 bottles. Caol Ila is the quiet giant of Islay, vast yet refined. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries.

The spirit was run through tall copper stills that keep the smoke light, building the elegant Islay smoke at its heart. A wine cask held it, layering berry fruit over the malt. By the integrating teens harsher congeners fade and ethyl esters build, lending a riper citrus over the softening peat. The tall stills and a high cut give a lighter, cleaner spirit than the southern Islays. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness. A clean smoke and a coastal salt define the distillery style. Diageo's Special Releases have featured both peated and unpeated Caol Ila.

At 40% it is clean and coastal. A smoky, briny coastal character, with plum and red berry from the cask. It is clean and coastal, the peat and lemon to the fore. A long maritime smoke closes it. This is a clean, smoky Islay single malt from Caol Ila.