Caol Ila 10 Years Old 2010 (Hepburn’s Choice) (46%)

The independent Hunter Laing released this Caol Ila, a 10 year old, distilled in 2010, bottled at 46%, one of 648 bottles. Caol Ila is a maritime malt, matured within sound of the sea. Most of its peated malt is destined for the Johnnie Walker blends.

This was worked from peated barley through the distillery's tall stills, building the elegant Islay smoke at its heart. A wine cask shaped it, the fruit meeting the spirit. In integration the oak lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) knit with the phenols, the whole growing rounder and oilier. The cool Islay air gives a slow, steady maturation by the shore. The medium peating leaves a smoke that is firm but never heavy. Active wood frames the smoke without smothering the citrus beneath. The clean, lemony smoke has made it a favourite of blenders for generations. A ferry crosses the Sound from Port Askaig to Jura and the mainland.

At an approachable 46% it is balanced. Ashy smoke, lemon oil and a saline tang, with plum and red berry from the cask. It is clean and coastal, the peat and lemon to the fore. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is a lemony, coastal Islay single malt.