Caol Ila 30 Years Old 1993 (SMWS 53.461)

A Caol Ila drawn by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, distilled in 1993, from cask 53.461, bottled at 52.6%, one of 266 bottles. Caol Ila takes its name from the Gaelic for the Sound of Islay. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

The spirit was worked from peated malt for the lighter Islay style, for the clean island smoke prized by blenders. Refill American oak let the spirit speak, adding a quiet honeyed note. 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. The oily texture comes from the spirit cut, the cask adding depth around it. Caol Ila's smoke leans to lemon, olive oil and brine rather than tar or iodine. Time in oak deepens the oily body while the maritime smoke stays bright. The warehouses are ranged along the rocky shore at the water's edge.

At a full 52.6% it is bold and oily. A bonfire smoke with lemon and sea salt, with vanilla and a soft caramel from the wood. It is clean and coastal, the peat and lemon to the fore. The finish runs oily, smoky and clean. This is a lemony, coastal Islay single malt.