Caol Ila 29 Years Old 1984 Cask #HL 13608 (Old Malt Cask)

The independent Hunter Laing bottled this Caol Ila, a 29 year old, distilled in 1984, from cask HL 13608, bottled at 50.2%, one of 224 bottles. Caol Ila takes its name from the Gaelic for the Sound of Islay. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries.

The spirit was drawn off a high cut from peated barley, building a refined, maritime peat. A long spell in ex-Bourbon oak rounded the spirit gently. In these late, evaporative years the spirit concentrates to a waxy, tropical depth, the ellagitannin grip holding the fading peat in frame. Phenols from the peat smoke carry the medicinal, lemony edge through the years. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit. Years in oak round the smoke, the peat mellowing while the brine stays. Smoked citrus and a saline minerality are the hallmarks of the make.

At 50.2%, undiluted, it is bold and clean. A clean ashy smoke with lime and brine, with a gentle oak sweetness beneath. A maritime salt and a lemon lift run through it. A long maritime smoke closes it. This is a clean Islay smoke from the island's largest distillery.