Caol ila 13 Year Old SMWS Peat And Meat 53.499 55.4%

The neat nose veritably bristled with sweet, natural tar extracts, then pure creosote, salted Dutch liquorice and the sweetest, richest of peat smokes. We also noted meaty impressions of smoked duck breast and barbecued glazed pork. Reduction brought many aromas of umami and anchovy pastes, game meats, anthracite embers, camphor, pickled ginger and charred seaweed on a beach bonfire. The palate conjured ideas of fishermen's wellies, wet bonfire smoke and pickled walnuts. It was also hugely tarry and peppery, with iodine, cigar smoke and squid ink. Water brought notes of soy-glazed gammon, smoked almonds, clove oil, pure tar extracts and some extremely salty, very old oloroso sherry. In the finish we got pork scratchings and smoked dark ales. This was matured in a bourbon hogshead for seven years before being transferred to a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.

Caol Ila in the north of Isle of Islay was founded as far back as 1846 by Hector Henderson. The distillery is sited near Port Askaig overlooking the beautiful Sound of Islay which it is named after in Gaelic- ‘Caol Ila’.

Over the years the distillery changed hands numerous times and was subsequently bought by Distillers Company Ltd in 1927. In the early 1970’s there was a complete overhaul of the old buildings and six new stills were put in place then in 2022 a brand new visitors centre opened.

Much of the whisky produced goes into the Johnnie Walker blends and a very small amount is kept aside for maturing as a Caol Ila expression. The single malt is mainly made with peated barley giving the final flavour profile that classic Islay taste. In the core range there’s the Moch with no age plus the 12, 18 and 25 year old's. Also in the range is The Distiller’s Edition which has a delicious muscatel finish.

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