Caol Ila 20 Years Old 1995 Cask #9736 (LMDW)

The bottler La Maison du Whisky selected this Caol Ila, a 20 year old, distilled in 1995, from cask 9736, bottled at 54.1%, one of 276 bottles. Caol Ila looks out across the Sound to the Paps of Jura. Much of the spirit leaves the island by sea to mature on the mainland.

Worked from peated barley through the distillery's tall stills, building a refined, maritime peat. First fill bourbon gave it a fuller vanilla and a touch of coconut. Into oxidative maturity, slow air ingress builds fruity ethyl esters (pear and apple) and a waxiness, the phenols softening to a coastal whisper. Years in oak round the smoke, the peat mellowing while the brine stays. Active wood frames the smoke without smothering the citrus beneath. A clean smoke and a coastal salt define the distillery style. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries.

At a full 54.1% it is bold and oily. A fresh peat smoke over oily lemon, with a creamy oak note. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. Ash, lemon and brine draw out the close. This is a clean coastal malt with a lemony peat.