Caol Ila 9 Years Old 2010 Cask #316658 (Signatory)

A 9 year old Caol Ila from the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, from cask 316658, bottled at 59.7%, one of 625 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.

Distilled in tall stills that lend the smoke an oily lightness, for the clean island smoke prized by blenders. A sherry cask wrapped the spirit in dried fruit and a nutty depth. These first years are extractive, the oak giving lactones as coconut and vanillin as vanilla beneath a sharp, citrussy smoke. The clean, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while holding its citrus and smoke. Long fermentations build the fruity, citrus notes that sit beneath the smoke. Cool, damp warehousing slows the loss of the angel's share over the years. Time in oak deepens the oily body while the maritime smoke stays bright.

At a hearty 59.7% it carries real weight. A clean peat with sea salt and citrus, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. It is clean and coastal, the peat and lemon to the fore. Smoke and sea salt see out a long finish. This is the smoky malt of the Sound of Islay.