Caol Ila 11 Years Old 2011 Cask #900053 (Whiskyfacile)

A Caol Ila of an 11 year old chosen by the bottler Whiskyfacile, distilled in 2011, from cask 900053, bottled at 54.8%, one of 254 bottles. Caol Ila has been bottled at every age from young and fierce to old and waxy. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

Here the spirit was made from medium phenol malt on soft Loch nam Ban water, building the elegant Islay smoke at its heart. A tired refill cask added little but time, the make speaking clearly. Integration sees eugenol (clove) and vanillin (vanilla) fold into the spirit, the medicinal smoke gentler now. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, which is why it suits so many wood types. The tall stills and a high cut give a lighter, cleaner spirit than the southern Islays. Smoked citrus and a saline minerality are the hallmarks of the make. The peat here is medium rather than heavy, so fruit and smoke share the glass.

At its natural 54.8% it is concentrated. A clean ashy smoke with lime and brine, with a creamy oak note. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is Caol Ila's lighter, maritime Islay smoke.