Caol Ila 14 Years Old 1974 (Connoisseurs Choice)

A 14 year old Caol Ila, this distilled in 1974 from the Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail, bottled at 40%. Caol Ila is an Islay malt of clean, oily, citrus driven smoke. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

The spirit was drawn off a high cut from peated barley, for an oily smoke that leans to lemon and brine. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the gentle American oak letting the make lead. In integration the oak lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) knit with the phenols, the whole growing rounder and oilier. Smoked citrus and a saline minerality are the hallmarks of the make. The malt is medium peated, giving a cleaner smoke than the south shore Islays. A gentle vanillin sweetness from the oak balances the coastal phenols. Much of the spirit leaves the island by sea to mature on the mainland. Water falls to the distillery from Loch nam Ban in the hills above.

At 40% it is clean and coastal. A lemony Islay smoke over olive oil, with a soft vanilla from the oak. A sea salt and an olive oil note sit under the smoke. The finish runs oily, smoky and clean. This is a clean Islay smoke from the island's largest distillery.