Caol Ila 10 Years Old 2011 Cask #DL 15161 (Old Particular)

A Caol Ila drawn by the Glasgow bottler Douglas Laing, distilled in 2011, from cask DL 15161, bottled at 48.4%, one of 279 bottles. Caol Ila sits on the shore at Port Askaig, on the narrow Sound of Islay. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness.

The spirit was worked from peated barley through the distillery's tall stills, building the elegant Islay smoke at its heart. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding only a light vanilla. By the integrating teens harsher congeners fade and ethyl esters build, lending a riper citrus over the softening peat. Maturation by the sea gives the malt its mineral, sea spray character. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries. Years in oak round the smoke, the peat mellowing while the brine stays.

At 48.4% without water it is rich and full. Smoke, grapefruit and a maritime salt, with vanilla and a honeyed edge from the cask. Lemon, olive oil and a soft ash run through the middle. The smoke fades slow over citrus and a mineral tang. This is the smoky malt of the Sound of Islay.