Caol Ila was founded in 1846 by Hector Henderson on the Sound of Islay, chosen for its sheltered sea access, a nearby fresh water source at Loch nam Ban, and the peat of the surrounding land. Ownership changed several times in the nineteenth century, passing to Norman Buchanan of Isle of Jura in 1854 and then to the Glasgow whisky traders Bulloch Lade & Co in 1863. The distillery was almost entirely rebuilt between 1972 and 1974, when the original buildings were demolished and replaced with a larger plant that kept only the old warehouses, and the number of stills was increased to six.
It passed into the Distillers Company Limited group and from there, via United Distillers, to Diageo, which owns it today. Most of its output has traditionally gone into blends, though official single malt bottlings and a considerable trade in independent bottlings, such as this one, are also well established.