Caol Ila 25 Years Old 1997 Cask #12495 (Connoisseurs Choice)

This Caol Ila was bottled by the Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail, a 25 year old, distilled in 1997, from cask 12495, bottled at 60.7%, one of 561 bottles. Caol Ila was rebuilt in the 1970s into the large distillery it is today. The six tall stills sit behind picture windows looking out to Jura.

Here the spirit was drawn off a high cut from peated barley, for a clean, coastal, oily make. An American oak hogshead added vanilla and a light toffee. At this oxidative, evaporative stage ellagitannins lend a polished, drying structure while slow oxidation brings waxy tropical fruit over a ghost of peat. The clean, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while holding its citrus and smoke. The distillery was expanded again in the 21st century to meet blend demand. The tall stills and a high cut give a lighter, cleaner spirit than the southern Islays.

At 60.7% without water it is rich and full. A clean maritime smoke with lemon and brine, with a gentle oak sweetness beneath. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is a clean coastal malt with a lemony peat.