Caol Ila 18 Years Old 2007 White Label (Sansibar)

This Caol Ila was bottled by the bottler Sansibar, an 18 year old, distilled in 2007, bottled at 54.6%, one of 598 bottles. Caol Ila has been bottled at every age from young and fierce to old and waxy. Its peated character is built on malt smoked to a medium level of phenols.

The spirit was worked from peated barley through the distillery's tall stills, for a smoke more elegant than heavy. Maturation in an Oloroso cask laid dried fruit over the make. At oxidative maturity vanillin and lactones are fully expressed and ellagitannin tannins lend a polished, drying frame to the smoke. A clean smoke and a coastal salt define the distillery style. Time in oak deepens the oily body while the maritime smoke stays bright. Much of the spirit leaves the island by sea to mature on the mainland. Long fermentations build the fruity, citrus notes that sit beneath the smoke.

At 54.6% without water it is rich and full. Smoked lemon, brine and a green olive note, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. An oily smoke coats the palate, citrus and brine behind. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is a lemony, coastal Islay single malt.