Caol Ila 6 Years Old 2013 Cask #325549 (Signatory)

This Caol Ila was bottled by the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, a 6 year old, distilled in 2013, from cask 325549, bottled at 61.3%, one of 243 bottles. Caol Ila sits on the shore at Port Askaig, on the narrow Sound of Islay. Its peated character is built on malt smoked to a medium level of phenols.

The spirit was distilled in tall stills that lend the smoke an oily lightness, for a smoky spirit with a citrus lift. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla and a light sweetness under the smoke. Young and extractive, the cask sheds vanillin (vanilla) and toasted hemicellulose sugars (a light caramel) fast, the phenols still sharp and medicinal. Phenols from the peat smoke carry the medicinal, lemony edge through the years. A ferry crosses the Sound from Port Askaig to Jura and the mainland. Smoked citrus and a saline minerality are the hallmarks of the make.

At a full 61.3% it is bold and oily. Wood smoke, lemon zest and brine, with a gentle oak sweetness beneath. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. The smoke fades slow over citrus and a mineral tang. This is a maritime, lemony Islay single malt.