Caol Ila 8 Years Old 2011 Wee Brother (Na Br��ithrean)

This Caol Ila was bottled by the bottler Na Br��ithrean, an 8 year old, distilled in 2011, bottled at 60.2%, one of 103 bottles. Caol Ila makes a clean, maritime malt on the east coast of Islay. Most of its peated malt is destined for the Johnnie Walker blends.

It was drawn off the distillery's six tall stills from peated barley, for an oily smoke that leans to lemon and brine. Years in ex-Bourbon wood lent a soft vanilla and a coastal calm. In its extractive youth the spirit takes vanillin vanilla and lactone coconut quickly, the peat phenols vivid and lemony. Active wood frames the smoke without smothering the citrus beneath. The clean, lemony smoke has made it a favourite of blenders for generations. The spirit's high notes of lemon and grass survive even long maturation. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

Undiluted at 60.2%, it is powerful. A clean maritime smoke with lemon and brine, with a light vanilla and a touch of coconut. Soft smoke and citrus sit behind the cask. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is a maritime, lemony Islay single malt.