Caol Ila 8 Years Old 2014 Cask #313972-313983 (Wilson & Morgan)

A Caol Ila of an 8 year old chosen by the Italian bottler Wilson and Morgan, distilled in 2014, from cask 313972-313983, bottled at 46%, one of 4601 bottles. Caol Ila takes its name from the Gaelic for the Sound of Islay. The original Victorian distillery was almost entirely rebuilt in the modern era.

Drawn off the distillery's six tall stills from peated barley, giving a bright, citrus driven peat. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the spirit. 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 cool Islay air gives a slow, steady maturation by the shore. Caol Ila's smoke leans to lemon, olive oil and brine rather than tar or iodine. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness. Water falls to the distillery from Loch nam Ban in the hills above.

At 46% it is supple and oily. Peat, smoked fish and a citrus oil, with honeyed oak underneath. Smoked lemon and sea salt build over an oily body. It finishes smoky, oily and bright. This is the smoky malt of the Sound of Islay.