Caol Ila 10 Years Old 2000 Cask #312442 (Silver Seal)

The bottler Silver Seal bottled this Caol Ila, a 10 year old, distilled in 2000, from cask 312442, bottled at 46%, one of 298 bottles. Caol Ila is the most heavily bottled of all the Islay malts. The warehouses are ranged along the rocky shore at the water's edge.

Worked from peated barley through the distillery's tall stills, for an oily smoke that leans to lemon and brine. Years in ex-Bourbon wood lent a soft vanilla and a coastal calm. Through the integration phase spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into a rounded vanilla as the guaiacol phenols mellow into a softer smoke. The spirit's high notes of lemon and grass survive even long maturation. Sea air works into the maturing casks, lending a briny, coastal lift. The lighter style means the cask and the citrus speak alongside the peat. Long fermentations build the fruity, citrus notes that sit beneath the smoke.

At 46% it is smooth and clean. A smoky, briny coastal character, with a light bourbon sweetness. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is a lemony, coastal Islay single malt.