Caol Ila 9 Years Old 2010 Cask #311710 (Adelphi)

The Adelphi bottler selected this Caol Ila, a 9 year old, distilled in 2010, from cask 311710, bottled at 53.7%, one of 295 bottles. Caol Ila is a workhorse of the blending halls and a favourite of malt drinkers. Diageo's Special Releases have featured both peated and unpeated Caol Ila.

Here the spirit was distilled slowly from peated malt for a refined island smoke, giving a bright, citrus driven peat. Maturation in an Oloroso cask laid dried fruit over the make. Young and extractive, the cask sheds vanillin (vanilla) and toasted hemicellulose sugars (a light caramel) fast, the phenols still sharp and medicinal. The lighter style means the cask and the citrus speak alongside the peat. Cool, damp warehousing slows the loss of the angel's share over the years. A few weeks each year the distillery runs an unpeated, Highland style spirit.

At a full 53.7% it is bold and oily. A smoky, briny coastal character, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The oily body carries the smoke long and clean. The close is long, smoke over a citrus lift. This is an Islay malt that wears its smoke lightly.