Caol Ila 30 Years Old 1983 Cask #1460 (High Spirits’ Collection)

The bottler High Spirits' Collection bottled this Caol Ila, a 30 year old, distilled in 1983, from cask 1460, bottled at 46%. Caol Ila is among the most widely traded of Islay's single malts. From a small Victorian works it grew into one of Scotland's biggest malt distilleries.

This was distilled in tall stills that lend the smoke an oily lightness, building the elegant Islay smoke at its heart. Years in ex-Bourbon wood lent a soft vanilla and a coastal calm. In its ethereal years the malt is waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a touch of sotolon (maple, spice) over the merest whisper of peat. Smoked citrus and a saline minerality are the hallmarks of the make. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, which is why it suits so many wood types. A ferry crosses the Sound from Port Askaig to Jura and the mainland. Water falls to the distillery from Loch nam Ban in the hills above.

Bottled at 46%, it is rounded. A clean maritime smoke with lemon and brine, with a light bourbon sweetness. Smoked lemon and sea salt build over an oily body. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is a refined, citrus driven Islay smoke.