Caol Ila 9 Years Old 2009 Cask #317888 (Signatory)

A 9 year old Caol Ila from the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, from cask 317888, bottled at 57.3%, one of 687 bottles. Caol Ila wears its Islay smoke more lightly than its southern neighbours. The warehouses are ranged along the rocky shore at the water's edge.

Here the spirit was made from medium phenol malt on soft Loch nam Ban water, shaping the lighter side of Islay. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. Young and extractive, the cask sheds vanillin (vanilla) and toasted hemicellulose sugars (a light caramel) fast, the phenols still sharp and medicinal. The spirit's high notes of lemon and grass survive even long maturation. Cool, damp warehousing slows the loss of the angel's share over the years. Tall stills and a clean cut give the spirit its oily, lemony lightness. Phenols from the peat smoke carry the medicinal, lemony edge through the years.

At a natural 57.3% it is full and oily. Peat smoke, citrus and a soft oil, 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 a lemony, coastal Islay single malt.