Caol Ila Feis Ile 2010 11 Years Old 1999

An 11 year old Caol Ila bottled by the distillery, from 1999, cask 305646, at 61.9%, 558 bottles in all. Caol Ila was founded in 1846 by Hector Henderson. The original Victorian distillery was almost entirely rebuilt in the modern era.

This was drawn off a high cut from peated barley, for a smoky spirit with a citrus lift. A red wine cask lent berry fruit and a dry, tannic edge. Through integration the spirit and cask settle, lactone coconut and a soft vanillin balancing the easing phenols. The peat here is medium rather than heavy, so fruit and smoke share the glass. The medium peating leaves a smoke that is firm but never heavy. 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. Long fermentations build the fruity, citrus notes that sit beneath the smoke.

At cask strength 61.9% it is muscular. Ashy smoke, lemon oil and a saline tang, with a spiced, dried fruit edge from the cask. Lemon, olive oil and a soft ash run through the middle. It finishes smoky, oily and bright. This is a lemony, coastal Islay single malt.