Caol Ila Distillery Tour and Tasting

Ever since I started drinking whisky, I have wanted to get chance to visit Islay. It is home to most of my favourite whiskies and also to the big, powerful, punchy flavours that gave me a glimpse into the vast flavour profiles that is was possible to find in the amber nectar. So, when I saw my birthday on the horizon, I jumped at the excuse to get a holiday booked. Whilst on Islay, I wanted to tour the distilleries that produced the drams that I am most passionate about and with only two days on the island and a little one to think of, I needed to be selective.

The first distillery on my list was Caol Ila, pronounced “cull-eela”, I wanted to visit for three reasons, the first was its location on the North of the Island, over looking the incredible Paps of Jura, nestled just along the road from Port Askaig. The second was its size, Caol Ila produce more than double to amount of liquid than any other distillery on Islay. Lastly, and most importantly, was the liquid itself. At least two of the ten best whiskies, I have had the chance to sample, heralded from this distillery.

We visited the distillery in an quiet period, where production had ceased to allow annual maintenance. This allowed us access to most of the distillery and the opportunity to take pictures in places that are not normally allowed. The tour guide was friendly, very knowledgable and was able to even interest my wife, who is less of a whisky fanatic and more of a whisky widow! To illustrate the tour and the process at Caol Ila, here are a few short pictures and I will end with a review of the experience.

Click on the photos to see them enlarged and read more about them, then click anywhere on the page to carry on.

The Porteus Mill, which is used to grind the malted barley to create grist. This grist is made up three parts and is needed at an exact proportion.

The Mash Tun, where the barley is added to warm water. This is the part of the process where the sugar is extracted from the malted barley.

The Wash Backs, where the wort created in the mash tun is mixed with yeast and fermentation occurs.

The Still house, where the magic of distillation happens. This is the process of double distillation where separates alcohol from water.

The Spirit Safe. This is the key part of the process, where the useful, flavour filled whisky is separated from the other bi-products of fermentation and distillation.

The Control Room. Where the whole process is carefully watched and scrutinised.

The Warehouse, where some of the spirit is barrelled and stored for three years, until it becomes whisky.

The wide range of drams that are produced by using the same ingredients is amazing.

Distillery Review

This distillery might not be the most beautiful to look at, aside from its white washed warehouse, but it’s sheer scale is incredible. It sits in an incredibly beautiful part of the North of Islay and is worth coming to for the view across the water to Jura alone. Both in the shop and on the tour, we were incredibly well looked after and they were generous with their drams. We took the warehouse tour and tasting, which meant that we were on site for an hour, were taken through the whole distillation process and were able to try the five drams that you see above (Reviews to follow). As I mentioned before everyone all staff were friendly and couldn’t have done more for us.

For access to all areas, stunning scenery, lovely staff and great drams, we would give the tour 8/10.