Caol Ila 10 Years Old 2010 Cask #323382 + 323383 (Wilson & Morgan)

The Italian bottler Wilson and Morgan selected this Caol Ila, a 10 year old, distilled in 2010, from cask 323382 + 323383, bottled at 57.1%, one of 617 bottles. Caol Ila makes a clean, maritime malt on the east coast of Islay. Diageo's Special Releases have featured both peated and unpeated Caol Ila.

Run from peated malt through tall stills on Loch nam Ban water, for an oily smoke that leans to lemon and brine. Ex-Sherry wood added a dried fruit richness beneath the smoke. In integration the oak lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) knit with the phenols, the whole growing rounder and oilier. The clean, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while holding its citrus and smoke. Much of the spirit leaves the island by sea to mature on the mainland. Its peated character is built on malt smoked to a medium level of phenols. Port Askaig is a tiny settlement on the rugged east coast of Islay.

At a hearty 57.1% it carries real weight. A lemony Islay smoke over olive oil, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Soft smoke and citrus sit behind the cask. Smoke and sea salt see out a long finish. This is a clean, smoky Islay single malt from Caol Ila.