Caol Ila - Unpeated

Now this is an interesting proposition.
An unpeated Caol Ila.
Ok. I've had this a few times. And at one point I think this was only available at the distillery. But now you can get it from a specialist. A whisky specialist yeah?
So is this Caol Ila's take on a Blasda?
I mean, let's face it - along with Bunnahabhain you're one of Islay's more unknown malts, you're utterly unpronounceable, and you've not got the marketing. So why. On. Earth. Would you bother release a unpeated version? Especially when your local supermarket will discount your fruity unpeated speysider for more than half the amount. It's equivalent to buying the demo's and outtakes of your favourite band then.

Nose:
Soft and subtle. Sweet malt barley. It's got a lovely fizzy sherberty barley feel. Like those Ufo sherbet parcels - rice paper and shebert. It's chunky on the nose. But it doesn't give away it's over 60% abv. Not. At. All. You would expect it to be more forceful than it is. It's mouthwatering alright. And there's a lovely combination of un-baked cake and un-risen cookie dough.

Taste:
Bitter and sweet in a quaint waltz. Then intense barley on the first sip. Like a rollercoaster. That by the second you are already used to. It feels like Oblivion at Alton Towers. After the second sip it quickly dies down.

Finish:
As it develops the bitter/sweet balances itself out. It's oily but nowhere near as you would expect the standard peated variety. Clean, clean, clean. All the way. Although there's no peat on the malt you know that there's some residue on all that copper. It's impossible to take it away. It adds a thread of robustness and props the cereal notes from the barley up superbly. It's weirdly balanced and the finish is weirdly short for such a high abv malt- but that's maybe it taming your taste buds.