Caol Ila 13 Years Old 2008 Cask #322394 – 322395 (Wilson & Morgan)

A 13 year old Caol Ila, this distilled in 2008 from the Italian bottler Wilson and Morgan, from cask 322394-322395, bottled at 48%, one of 580 bottles. Caol Ila is Diageo's largest Islay distillery. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness.

It was worked from peated barley through the distillery's tall stills, giving a clean, lemony peat. Years in ex-Bourbon wood lent a soft vanilla and a coastal calm. 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 warehouses are ranged along the rocky shore at the water's edge. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries. Port Askaig is a tiny settlement on the rugged east coast of Islay.

Undiluted at 48%, it is powerful. Peat, smoked fish and a citrus oil, with a touch of vanilla and toffee. Smoked lemon and sea salt build over an oily body. Ash, lemon and brine draw out the close. This is a clean Islay smoke from the island's largest distillery.