Caol Ila 9 Years Old 2007 (Connoisseurs Choice)

A 9 year old Caol Ila, this distilled in 2007 from the Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail, bottled at 46%. Caol Ila is the smoky backbone of the Johnnie Walker blends. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

Here the spirit was run from peated malt through tall stills on Loch nam Ban water, giving a bright, citrus driven peat. A fresh bourbon barrel lent vanilla, coconut and a fuller body. At an extractive age eugenol lends a clove note and oak lactones a coconut sweetness, the guaiacol smoke bright and fresh. Phenols from the peat smoke carry the medicinal, lemony edge through the years. A slow maturation in the cool island air keeps the spirit fresh and oily. The oily texture comes from the spirit cut, the cask adding depth around it. Most of its peated malt is destined for the Johnnie Walker blends. Caol Ila's smoke leans to lemon, olive oil and brine rather than tar or iodine.

Bottled at 46%, it is rounded. Sea spray, smoke and a citrus lift, with honeyed oak underneath. A sea salt and an olive oil note sit under the smoke. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is an elegant Islay single malt.