Caol Ila 15 Years Old 2010 Cask #318378 (BB&R)

The London wine merchant Berry Bros and Rudd selected this Caol Ila, a 15 year old, distilled in 2010, from cask 318378, bottled at 56.2%, one of 239 bottles. Caol Ila is among the most widely traded of Islay's single malts. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

Here the spirit was distilled from medium peated malt in tall copper stills, for a smoke more elegant than heavy. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. In the oxidative middle years the spirit deepens, oxidation drawing out waxy fruit as the guaiacol smoke fades to embers. Caol Ila's smoke leans to lemon, olive oil and brine rather than tar or iodine. The oily texture comes from the spirit cut, the cask adding depth around it. Its spirit also feeds blends such as Bell's and Black Bottle. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness.

At cask strength 56.2% it is muscular. A bonfire smoke with lemon and sea salt, with dried fruit, fig and walnut 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 a clean coastal malt with a lemony peat.