Caol Ila 2014 3W (3006 Whisky (3W))

This Caol Ila was bottled by the bottler 3006 Whisky (3W), an 8 year old, distilled in 2014, from cask 326516, bottled at 59.6%, one of 156 bottles. Caol Ila looks out across the Sound to the Paps of Jura. Water falls to the distillery from Loch nam Ban in the hills above.

Here the spirit was run from peated malt through tall stills on Loch nam Ban water, for a clean, coastal, oily make. A first fill sherry cask drove a deep, figgy, nutty character. These first years are extractive, the oak giving lactones as coconut and vanillin as vanilla beneath a sharp, citrussy 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. Diageo's Special Releases have featured both peated and unpeated Caol Ila. The spirit's high notes of lemon and grass survive even long maturation.

At a natural 59.6% it is full and oily. Wood smoke, lemon zest and brine, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. Soft smoke and citrus sit behind the cask. A long, briny finish ends on lemon and soft smoke. This is the elegant, lighter side of Islay.