Caol Ila 18 Year Old (700mL)

Caol Ila 18 Years Old is like a fine Dominican Cigar on a chilly evening.

In Gaelic, Caol Ila is pronounced “cole ī-la” and it means “sound of Islay.” And sure enough, this distillery sits right on the water facing the deep-water strait between Islay and Jura… smack dab in smoky-single-malt paradise. The Caol Ila Distillerie — owned by Diageo — is a production machine, cranking out 3.5 million liters of the peaty amber liquid each year. But their Whisky is in high demand as a core component to dozens of premium blends. In fact, the major blends take 95% of production, leaving only 5% to go into their signature single malts.

Where a young peated Whisky can whip you in the face with charcoal and campfire smoke, it is amazing what time does to this classic Islay dram. A full eighteen years of patient maturation calms the harsher phenols into a gourmet tray of smoked delicacies. You are left with a creamy, smooth, and dense single malt that lingers on the palate with a savory sweetness and pronounced notes of fresh-picked herbs. Where some lesser Islay Whiskies are like chain-smoking a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, Caol Ila 18 Years Old is like a fine Dominican Cigar on a chilly evening by the sea.