Caol Ila 13 Years Old 2012 Cask #327342 (Murray McDavid)

A 13 year old Caol Ila, this distilled in 2012 from the independent Murray McDavid, from cask 327342, bottled at 54.4%, one of 127 bottles. Caol Ila is Diageo's largest Islay distillery. The warehouses are ranged along the rocky shore at the water's edge.

Worked from peated barley through the distillery's tall stills, for a smoke more elegant than heavy. 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. The clean, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while holding its citrus and smoke. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, which is why it suits so many wood types. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness. The peat here is medium rather than heavy, so fruit and smoke share the glass.

At a hearty 54.4% it carries real weight. A clean ashy smoke with lime and brine, with honeyed oak underneath. The palate is oily and smoky, with a green citrus lift. A long, briny finish ends on lemon and soft smoke. This is Caol Ila's lighter, maritime Islay smoke.