Caol Ila reopened to the public
The completion of work at the refurbished Visitor Centre at the Caol Ila distillery on the island of Islay marked the final stage of a large-scale project by Diageo Group. Scotland's largest whisky producer recently invested a not inconsiderable £185 million in a major redevelopment of the tourist section of several of its distilleries, as well as the launch of a multimedia center dedicated to the Johnnie Walker brand in Edinburgh. Ty thus Diageo has taken a huge step forward in capitalizing on the tourism trend in the Scottish distilling industry. The new Visitor Centre in Caol Ila joins recently renovated and upgraded visitor attractions at Cardhu, Clynelish, Glenkinchie, Glen Ord and Talisker distilleries.
The upgraded and extensively rebuilt tourist base in Caol Ila is part of a program to promote the Johnnie Walker brand and is one of the "Four Corners of Scotland," where the key components from which the blended whiskies of this world's best-selling Scotch whisky brand are made. The new Visitor Centre in Caol Ila takes fuller advantage than before of the distillery's location on the shores of the Sound of Islay and its proximity to the extremely picturesque island of Jura on the other side of it. Among other things, guests of the distillery were offered panoramic views of the strait and the Paps of Jura mountains on the neighboring island.
On-site tours and tastings have also been expanded. An incomparably more extensive program of whiskey tastings straight from the barrels than before is planned, in the only surviving warehouse building located on the Caol Ila site, and until now almost completely unused. Specially for this purpose, dozens of whiskey barrels were brought back to the island, which until now had been aged in one of Diageo's storage centers on the mainland, away from the sea. This is because, as is well known, the distillate from Caol Ila leaves the distillery in tankers, with which it is transported to the mainland, and only there does the casking and maturation take place.
As if as part of the overall project, a new single malt whisky has been added to the distillery's portfolio. Caol Ila 14yo Four Corners of Scotland is part of a project to promote distillery tourism associated with the Johnnie Walker brand. Earlier, whiskeys from the other three "Nooks" were released, namely Glenkinchie 16yo, Clynelish 16yo and Cardhu 16yo.
Caol Ila 14yo Four Corners of Scotland is a whisky bottled as a 53% vol. beverage., matured in a combination of American oak refill barrels and freshly fired barrels of the same wood species. Prepared as a limited edition of up to 3,000 bottles, it is available in the store at the distillery, as well as through the corporation's online store. The price of a single bottle is £150.
Founded in 1846, Caol Ila is now the largest Scotch malt whisky maker located on the iconic island of Islay. Its maximum claimed capacity by the owner is as much as 6.5 million liters of pure alcohol per year, more than double that of the island's second largest, Bunnahabhain. It takes its name from the Gaelic version of the name of the strait over which it is located - Caol Ila is actually the Sound of Islay. This is an extremely popular malt whisky with a distinct peaty and smoky character, available on the market in a whole range of different editions, including those from independent distributors.
The current offerings of the House of Whisky Online include a rich selection of whiskies from the Caol Ila distillery - from the budget Smoky Scot from Aceo, to extremely rare editions bottled even many years ago by distributors such as Sestante, Moon Imports, Gordon & MacPhail and Douglas Laing. Please visit.
[31.08.2022 / photo: Diageo]