Caol Ila 36 yo 1965 / 2002 Gordon & Macphail #4211 45.6%

A delicious churn of tarry, oily, phenolic tones. Emphatic and evocative. The old Caol Ila stood comfortably next to the big four, and right now I have Port Ellen in mind. Deep dark organic material streaked with flints clay and roots marching its in-aerobic march to peatdom. I imagine black oils of industrial origin, caked layers of soot above poorly burning furnaces. Bags of coal, graphite oil and black oily smoke. It’s only on the palate that salty hints appear, and worn planks on boats upon which dirty fishing nets dry. A masterful old fragment of the old distillery. 92 pts