Caol Ila 43 Years Old 1976 Cask #8099 (Private Collection)

From the Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail, a 43 year old Caol Ila, distilled in 1976, from cask 8099, bottled at 42.4%, one of 84 bottles. Caol Ila is a workhorse of the blending halls and a favourite of malt drinkers. The original Victorian distillery was almost entirely rebuilt in the modern era.

It was distilled slowly from peated malt for a refined island smoke, giving a clean, lemony peat. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the spirit. At an ethereal, fragile age the spirit turns delicate, sotolon lending a maple and old oak depth as beeswax and a ghost of smoke linger. Caol Ila's smoke leans to lemon, olive oil and brine rather than tar or iodine. Its peated character is built on malt smoked to a medium level of phenols. Water falls to the distillery from Loch nam Ban in the hills above. Diageo's Special Releases have featured both peated and unpeated Caol Ila.

At a hearty 42.4% it carries real weight. Peat, smoked fish and a citrus oil, with a light bourbon sweetness. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. Ash, lemon and brine draw out the close. This is an Islay malt that wears its smoke lightly.