Caol Ila 8 Years Old 2012 Cask #9 (Signatory)

The Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage selected this Caol Ila, an 8 year old, distilled in 2012, from cask 9, bottled at 58.9%, one of 450 bottles. Caol Ila was rebuilt in the 1970s into the large distillery it is today. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness.

This was run from peated malt through tall stills on Loch nam Ban water, giving the lighter Islay style its shape. Maturation in an Oloroso cask laid dried fruit over the make. In these extractive early years the oak surrenders vanillin as vanilla and cis oak lactones as coconut, while guaiacol carries a vivid, lemony peat smoke. The oily texture comes from the spirit cut, the cask adding depth around it. A ferry crosses the Sound from Port Askaig to Jura and the mainland. Port Askaig is a tiny settlement on the rugged east coast of Islay.

At a natural 58.9% it is full and oily. Wood smoke, lemon zest and brine, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with citrus. The smoke fades slow over citrus and a mineral tang. This is Caol Ila's lighter, maritime Islay smoke.