Caol Ila 12 Years Old 2013 Cask #309443 (Best Dram)

A Caol Ila drawn by the bottler Best Dram, distilled in 2013, from cask 309443, bottled at 56.8%, one of 264 bottles. Caol Ila makes a clean, maritime malt on the east coast of Islay. The six tall stills sit behind picture windows looking out to Jura.

The spirit was run from peated malt through tall stills on Loch nam Ban water, for a smoky spirit with a citrus lift. A sherry cask wrapped the spirit in dried fruit and a nutty depth. Through the integration phase spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into a rounded vanilla as the guaiacol phenols mellow into a softer smoke. Long ageing turns the young, sharp peat into a soft, coastal smoke. The lighter style means the cask and the citrus speak alongside the peat. The peat here is medium rather than heavy, so fruit and smoke share the glass. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

Undiluted at 56.8%, it is powerful. Smoked lemon, brine and a green olive note, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The oily body carries the smoke long and clean. The smoke fades slow over citrus and a mineral tang. This is a maritime, lemony Islay single malt.