Caol Ila 10 Years Old 2011 Cask #900044 (Anam na h-Alba)

A Caol Ila drawn by the bottler Anam na h-Alba, distilled in 2011, from cask 900044, bottled at 59%, one of 288 bottles. Caol Ila takes its name from the Gaelic for the Sound of Islay. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries.

Distilled slowly from peated malt for a refined island smoke, for an oily smoke that leans to lemon and brine. 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. A clean smoke and a coastal salt define the distillery style. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness. Olive oil and lemon sit at the heart of the Caol Ila character. The clean, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while holding its citrus and smoke.

Bottled at a cask strength 59%, it is intense. A clean maritime smoke with lemon and brine, with a gentle oak sweetness beneath. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. The finish runs oily, smoky and clean. This is a lemony, coastal Islay single malt.