Caol Ila 11 Years Old 2009 Cask #358023 (James Eadie)

From the bottler James Eadie, an 11 year old Caol Ila, distilled in 2009, from cask 358023, bottled at 56.6%, one of 367 bottles. Caol Ila has been bottled at every age from young and fierce to old and waxy. Malt comes from the Port Ellen maltings on the south of the island.

It was run through tall copper stills that keep the smoke light, giving a clean, lemony peat. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. By the integrating teens harsher congeners fade and ethyl esters build, lending a riper citrus over the softening peat. A clean smoke and a coastal salt define the distillery style. The clean, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while holding its citrus and smoke. The original Victorian distillery was almost entirely rebuilt in the modern era. A ferry crosses the Sound from Port Askaig to Jura and the mainland.

At a natural 56.6% it is full and oily. A lemony Islay smoke over olive oil, with a dry, nutty, savoury depth from the cask. The oily body carries the smoke long and clean. Ash, lemon and brine draw out the close. This is a clean, smoky Islay single malt from Caol Ila.