MR CONSISTENT: CAOL ILA FROM ISLAY

 CAOL ILA: THE SUM OF MANY PARTS

A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE WALKER FAMILY

Caol Ila, pronounced “Cul-EE-lah” is the Gaelic name for the Sound of Islay, which separates the island from Jura. For some, the distillery’s pronunciation is as remote as its location, sitting as it does on the rugged eastern coast, where it has remained hidden from view since 1846. What ever you say, the fine, smoky whisky produced by generations of islanders is worth exploring.

Caol Ila is often termed 'Mr Consistent'. It is, I believe, a fair assessment. The largest distillery on Islay in terms of volume, Caol Ila always seems to manage to hit the perfect balance between maturity and distillery character, no matter whether it is in official or independent bottlings.

Caol Ila is an interesting phenomena where a ‘brand’ is a victim of the twin forces of its own ubiquity and quality. One can’t help but love its punchy, distillate-forward style. What’s more, it’s one of those extremely rare names that have always sheltered quality from the first known bottled examples hailing from the old distillery, right through to the present day make. Perhaps these ultra-lean modern examples aren’t as majestic as their 1960s counterparts, but then again, few spirits on this whole planet are. Today sees a healthy jumble of diverse expressions, from a never ending stream of new distilleries!

CAOL ILA DISTILLERY: ISLAY SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY

Caol Ila's distillery character manages to combine a fresh pear note, grassiness, a hint of juniper and distinct notes of the seashore – lobster shells, crab creels and gentle smoke. Although it receives the same spec of malt as sister distillery Lagavulin, Caol Ila’s distillation regime – longer fermentation, higher cut point, taller stills – helps to reduce the heavy phenols. Located just feet from the salty ocean waters, four large pot stills operate at 50% capacity 24 hours a day. This low fill allows for high copper contact and plenty of interaction time within the still.

With 34 ppm of phenols, Caol Ila is not the most heavily peated of Islay malts, but – on paper at least – it’s no shrinking violet. However, it’s moderated here by the exclusive use of ex-bourbon barrels, and they lend a subtlety and distinction to this very well mannered islander. The wood regime is also evident in the light colour of the spirit. Maturation for the single malt is in refill casks. The unpeated variant is equally delicate, with a fresh, estery and almost floral lift.

Its importance for blends meant that, until 2002, when a 12-year-old was released, malt lovers had to seek out independent bottlings. Now there is a range including the NAS Moch, 18-year-old and 25-year-old, a finished Distiller’s Edition and annual special releases.

In 1846, one Hector Henderson, who owned the old Camlachie distillery in Glasgow, decided to build a small distillery in a tight bay next to Port Askaig, on Islay’s east coast. He named his venture Caol Ila, Gaelic for the Sound of Islay, the stretch of water which it overlooked.

In 1857, Henderson was bought out by blender Bulloch Lade, who improved the site by building a substantial pier. Ever since, Caol Ila has its own pier where early day steam ships or coal fired puffers and today’s barges can unload supplies and load up on whisky for sale on the mainland. Caol Ila has seen many owners. Consecutive owners included Henderson, Lamont & Co, Norman Buchanan (1863-1879). According to the 1871 census, Duncan Johnston was the Distillery Manager at the time. Duncan was the nephew of John Johnston of Lagavulin and cousin to the Laphroaig Johnstons and so the family were involved with yet another distillery on the island. By the 1880s over 147,000 imperial gallons (670,000 L) of whisky were produced there each year. Caol Ila was liquidated by Bulloch Lade and sold to J. P. O'Brien Ltd in 1920, who in turn sold it to a consortium –Caol Ila Distillery Co Ltd. the same year.

It was absorbed into DCL (now Diageo) in 1927. DCL and transferred Caol Ila to Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd in 1930 - who then shut it down again. The Caol Ila distillery was silent until 1934 and after some activity, restrictions on people, power and barley mean the distillery had to close again in 1941, during part of the second World War. It then ran continuously until 1972, when the old distillery was demolished and a new, significantly larger one was built with six stills rather than two, by 1974. This transformed Caol Ila into Islay’s largest producer in order to meet increased demand from the blenders. Only the warehouses (filled with maturing whisky) were spared. After 1974, Caol Ila started to buy their malted barley from the Port Ellen maltings. The pure spring water is from the nearby Loch nam Ban. Some people make a clear distinction between the heavier 'old' Caol Ila that was produced before 1972 and the lighter, cleaner spirit that was distilled after the expansion in 1974.

The Caol Ila distillery became part of the United Distillers conglomerate in 1986. In 1989, the first 'semi-official' bottling was released in the 'Flora & Fauna' range. This would be the only official bottling for quite some time (not counting releases in the 'Rare Malts' series).

These days official bottlings are widely available. In 2002 Caol Ila introduced a complete 'core range'. Apart from the fairly standard 12yo, 18yo and Cask Strength bottlings, Diageo also releases occasional single cask bottlings as well.

Independent bottlings have become easier to find as well. When casks of Lagavulin and Laphroaig became harder to acquire after the year 2000, independent bottlers started to release more private and 'bastard' bottlings too.

Although the profile of Caol Ila as a single malt has been enhanced in recent years, the main function of the distillery is still the production of malt whiskies for the Johnnie Walker blends. Among single malt whisky lovers, Caol Ila is known as a relatively clean peated whisky - but the whisky that is used for blends is actually UNPEATED.

Unbeknownst to many, the Caol Ila distillery actually started with trial runs with unpeated whisky in the 1980's. These tests were deemed successful, so this 'Highland' Caol Ila became part of the regular production process. (For circa two decades this unpeated whisky was used almost exclusively for blends, but in 2006 it was introduced as an 8 years old single malt. Three years later a 10yo Cask Strength variety was added.)

These were still the days before the single malt market had really taken off, and its make was destined for a huge array of blends across the whole whisky industry – most notably within its parent company, it filled massive requirements for Johnnie Walker.

When the downturn came in the 1980s, Caol Ila began running unpeated ‘Highland style’ for blends. Not only did it have capacity, but doing so allowed the distillery to stay open. Unpeated is still made every year, with volumes dependent on the forecasts of Diageo’s blending team. In 2011, another major revamp took place with a new mash tun and more washbacks being installed, which resulted in capacity increasing to 6.5m litres per annum. During the silent period when contraction was taking place, Bunnahabhain made the peated requirements.

ARTIST'S IMPRESSION OF REWORKED VISITOR CENTRE

In 2018, Diageo revealed plans to spend £150m on upgrading tourism facilities, including a new brand home for Johnnie Walker in Edinburgh, and improved visitor centres at Caol Ila, plus Clynelish, Cardhu and Glenkinchie, representing regional styles present in Walker. At Caol Ila, a new visitor centre will be created in the distillery warehouse, including a footbridge entry, new car parking and a bar with views across the Sound of Islay to Jura.

CAOL ILA – OTHER DETAILS

Caol Ila is the largest distillery on Islay by far, producing roughly a quarter of all the malt whisky that is distilled on the isle of Islay. As such, Caol Ila's capacity dwarfs better known malt whisky brands like Longmorn, Glenfarclas and Laphroaig and Lagavulin. Caol Ila is widely open to visitors between April and October - and slightly less so in November and December.

The location of the distillery is relatively remote, but the nearby historic site at Loch Finlaggan provides another reason to make the trip. From a small island in the lake, the ‘Lords of the Isles’ ruled Scotland for centuries.

Although there is a three storey warehouse on the distillery grounds, these days the entire production is sent to the mainland via tanker trucks. So, the young Caol Ila spirit is not filled and matured on Islay.

 These days, Caol Ila is the largest distillery on Islay by far. With an annual production capacity of 6.5 million litres of pure alcohol per year it was one of the top 10 distilleries in Scotland in 2015.

By 2013 roughly a third of Caol Ila’s production consisted of unpeated whisky.

UNPEATED EXPRESSIONS

Caol Ila has 10 washbacks - 8 made out of wood; 2 from stainless steel.

After the distillery was remodelled and expanded in 1974 to better suit the needs of blenders Caol Ila introduced a novel new whisky for blenders in the mid 1980's: unpeated malt whisky known as 'Caol Ila Highland'. This product was intended for blending and most (if not all) casks would thus have gone to blenders. However, in 1999 Caol Ila resumed production of unpeated whisky for the 'single malt' market. These bottlings became available in 2006 or 2007 when Diageo released the first bottling of the Caol Ila 8 Years Old 'Unpeated'. Since most blenders were not in the habit of storing their casks for very long (with the exception of Douglas Laing, perhaps) there probably are not that many casks of the unpeated Caol Ila Highland around - if any at all...

Caol Ila was the first distillery on Islay that switched from direct firing of the stills to indirect heating via steam. They were also the first to trade in their traditional worm tubs for shell and tube condensers.

In The New Millennium

2002 - Caol Ila has been one of Diageo's 'volume' distilleries for quite some time. The only (semi-) official releases were a 'Flora & Fauna' bottling and a few 'UD Rare Malts' expressions. However, at the start of the new millennium Diageo wanted to strengthen the Caol Ila brand. They introduced a range of official bottlings; the "standard" 12 years old whisky, an 18yo and a cask strength version without an age statement.

2005 - Caol Ila is added to the 'Classic Malts' range of Diageo. This range used to contain only six different single malts (Cragganmore, Dalwinnie, Glenkinchie, Lagavulin, Oban & Talisker) when it was introduced in the late 1980's, but in 2005 a bunch of other single malts suddenly became classic - including Cardhu, Clynelish and Glen Elgin.

2006 - The Caol Ila "Unpeated" (formerly known as ‘Caol Ila Highland’ to blenders) is released as a 8yo OB.

2014 - As it turns out, Diageo had their eye on the future when they released the unpeated variety to the general public in 2006. They kept enough maturing casks in stock to keep releasing older expressions regularly. A 15yo bottling of unpeated Caol Ila was released in 2014 - as well as a 30yo peated bottling. 

2009 - A ten years old version of the unpeated variety is released at an higher ‘cask’ strength than the 8yo.

2011 - Diageo keeps expanding Caol Ila’s portfolio, this time with a 12yo version of the unpeated variety and a new version without an age statement called “Moch”.