Advent 2022 #21 - Lagavulin Distillers Edition 1998

I’m always interested in trying different batches of what is meant to be the same release. Not a ton of exposure to Lagavulin DEs, and I’ve found it to be a dram that goes one way or the other depending on the glass. Let’s see how this goes.

Lagavulin Distillers Edition 1998, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 1998 and matured for 16 years with a PX finish. Reviewed blind, neat in an opaque glencairn.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.

Nose: Smoke, meat. Maritime, medicinal. Leather, tobacco, rubber, cereal. Pancakes with butter and syrup. Hazelnut coffee (it actually reminded me of a specific vape flavor from when I used to do that – don’t take this as a negative, Phillip Rocke Crème de la crème was the flavor and it’s excellent even though I dislike hazelnut to the point I find Nutella to be gross).

Taste: Musty, wood, spice. A sweetness there.

Finish: Smoked meat. Medium.

Guess: Lagavulin DE. Laphroaig 15 wouldn’t surprise me, but it kinda would.

This is just excellent. Each time I revisited the nose I found something new, and it was more delightful than the last time. It tastes fine and the finish is good, but they don’t compare to the star that is the nose. I hadn’t developed an interest in whisky until well after “the good old days” but this peak into something closer to then, even if just by a few years, is interesting, and I’ll be giving a bit more credibility to declarations that this or that expression isn’t what it used to be.

Score: 91

Musical Evocation: Bob Dylan with Emmylou Harris – “One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)”

Talisker Distillers Edition

Talisker Distillers Edition, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 45.8% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2002, matured in ex-Bourbon casks and finished in Amoroso casks, and bottled in 2013. Batch number TD-S: 5PB. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with the Caol Ila and Lagavulin Distillers Editions.

Color: Tawny, 1.4.

Nose: Fruity, slight smoke, salted caramel.

Taste: Dry but sweet, into wood, smoke, and spices.

Finish: Long. Briny smoke with dry spice. Bit like coffee but not that flavor.

Quite nice, a sweet version of the 10 with the edge taken down, not necessarily in a bad way. Worth the premium if it's not much more than the 10.

Score: 88

Lagavulin Distillers Edition

Lagavulin Distillers Edition, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2001, matured in ex-Bourbon casks and finished in Pedro Ximénez casks, and bottled in 2017. Batch number lgv. 4/506. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with the Caol Ila and Talisker Distillers Editions.

Color: Old oak, 1.8.

Nose: Big, smoke, wood, burnty stuff, very much like ham.

Taste: Woody at first, leather, bitter. Sometimes an unbelievably savory meat that really improves it.

Finish: Molasses, pepper, tobacco, oaky. Long.

I feel like on my scale the range for this is mid-high seventies to mid nineties. When it interacts with my palate in the meaty way I almost spit it out because my mouth wants to react with a flood of drool it’s so damn good. I really wish it were more consistent, it ranges from almost mediocre to absolutely stellar depending on the glass. It does, however, remain above mediocre at its worst and squarely a fine dram. Where the price isn’t a bunch more, I’d say it's worth the premium.

Score: 89

Talisker 10 & Distillers Edition Side by Side

I’ve already reviewed each of these independently, but have decided to revisit each of them to see how my perception may have changed, and to compare them in a side by side to see how much influence that finish had.

Talisker 10, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 45.8% ABV

Minutia: Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, side by side with the Distillers Edition.

Color: Chestnut Oloroso Sherry, 1.2.

Nose: Wood and smoke. Bit of honey cereal.

Taste: Honey, pepper/spice, malt. Some smoke, tannic.

Finish: Pepper, musty, dry, caramelized sugar. Medium.

I generally like things smokier than this, but there’s enough punch that it feels more substantial. However that smoke is not really the focus, here, and those who don’t love smoke may be able to appreciate this (particularly the older expressions which are more tame and have more fruit).

Score: 83

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Talisker Distillers Edition, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 45.8% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2002, matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished in Amoroso casks, and bottled in 2013. Batch number TD-S: 5PB. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, side by side with the standard 10 year.

Color: Auburn, 1.5.

Nose: About the same, but the honey cereal has a nutty quality to it, and the nose is overall much sweeter. Maybe a bit of mustiness.

Taste: Really just a spicier version of the 10 with a bit of nutty flavor, and a tiny hint of fruit.

Finish: Sweet, fruitlike smoke. Dry. Medium.

Quite similar to the standard, the finish here seems to add a bit of nuttiness to the dram, a small bit of sweetness, and it gets a bit spicier than the 10, or at least the spice is more present.

Score: 89

Lagavulin 16 & Distillers Edition Side by Side

I’ve already reviewed each of these independently, but have decided to revisit each of them to see how my perception may have changed, and to compare them in a side by side to see how much influence that finish had.

Lagavulin 16, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, side by side with the Distillers Edition.

Color: Tawny, 1.4.

Nose: Smoke with a sweetness behind it. Vegetation, bit wet. Bit nutty, honey.

Taste: Honey and oak. Spices. Earthy.

Finish: Earthy smoke, dunnage, meaty. On the longer side.

Different than I remember it, in some ways better, others worse. Not by a lot, but I remember a smokier taste, here that is really coming in on the finish, and it feels more drastic since it didn’t announce itself earlier.

Score: 87

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Lagavulin Distillers Edition, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2001, matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished in Pedro Ximénez casks, and bottled in 2017. Batch number lgv. 4/506. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, side by side with the standard 16 year old.

Color: Mahogany, 1.6.

Nose: Musty, stale fruit. Wet fire smoke. Molasses.

Taste: Similar oakiness, less of the spices, some dark/red fruit flavor.

Finish: Earthy smoke, woody fruit. About the same duration, maybe a bit shorter.

This dram has been a fickle one for me, sometimes it’s much like this, other times, a smoky, meaty powerhouse. It doesn’t surprise me that in a side by side with something smoky the smoke isn’t coming through as readily. 

Score: 84

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I’d say a true score for the Distillers Edition is 84-90. That meatiness is great when it shows up and depending whether that’s there it lands about 3 points above or below the 16. The way the Distillers Edition presented itself to me this time, it’s hard to consider these being two slightly different versions of the same expression. When it is meaty, it really drinks a lot like a special version of the 16.

Caol Ila 12 & Distillers Edition Side by Side

I’ve already reviewed each of these independently, but have decided to revisit each of them to see how my perception may have changed, and to compare them in a side by side to see how much influence that finish had.

Caol Ila 12, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, side by side with the Distillers Edition.

Color: Pale gold, 0.3.

Nose: Earthy, salty, ashy smoke.

Taste: Vegetal/herbal, wood (oak and green wood), smoked seafood.

Finish: Smoke ramps up up front, musty smoked seafood is where it settles. Medium.

A nice, smoky and maritime whisky. The flavor that comes in the finish is the star.

Score: 86

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Caol Ila Distillers Edition, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2006, matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished in Moscatel casks, and bottled in 2018. Batch number C-si; 5-748. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, side by side with the standard 12 year old.

Color: Russet muscat, 1.3.

Nose: Salty caramel (bit burnt/smoky). Sweeter, with a bit less ethanol burn.

Taste: Pepper, wood (tannic dryness/bitterness), bit sweet.

Finish: Musty seafood of the 12, pepper/spice.

Similar, particularly on the finish. This is a bit sweeter, generally, and the smokiness and salinity are a touch less prominent.

Score: 89

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Similar noses but less earthy with a tinge more sweetness for the Distillers Edition. A subdued burn in the mouth, but the woodiness is oakier and not green at all. The smoked seafood of the taste of the 12 doesn’t come in until the Distillers Edition finish, but it’s the same quality. While I do like the smoky burst at the start of the finish on the 12 which settles into smoked seafood more than any aspect of the Distillers Edition, the sensation is similar enough when the smoke seafood arrives at the outset rather than being settled into that it isn’t all that different an experience. A step up for me, but a very small one, and one that could be reversed given the right mood/setting.

Caol Ila Distillers Edition

Standard expression from a Diageo distillery, NAS but effectively as old as that standard expression, finished in a Sherry cask (or other fortified wine) of some variety.

Caol Ila Distillers Edition, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2006, matured in ex-Bourbon casks and finished in Moscatel casks, and bottled in 2018. Batch number C-si; 5-748. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with the Lagavulin and Talisker Distillers Editions.

Color: Russet muscat, 1.3.

Nose: Fruity smoke, pear, sour apple, citrus.

Taste: Musty Caol Ila smoke, salt.

Finish: Smoky, dry, spicy. Medium long. Salty.

A fun twist on an old favorite. Sweetened and mellowed very nicely, the Moscatel was obviously a good choice for this spirit. Where the price is not much more, it's worth the premium over the 12.

Score: 89

Oban Distillers Edition

Not much interesting leadup to this unfortunately. I was at a bar waiting for a table to be ready with some friends and they didn’t have a whisky I knew and liked, I saw this, and since I wanted to try it I ordered one and took some notes on my phone.

Oban Distillers Edition 2015, Highland Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: A healthy pour in whatever the name is for the glass pictured. This was distilled in 2000, bottled in 2015, and spent some amount of time being finished in Montilla Fino casks.

Color: Dark honey.

Nose: Fruity, juniper, malt, earthy.

Taste: Fruit – raisin specifically, smoke a little, malty.

Finish: Salty, malty, honey.

It’s not bad, not by any means, but it’s not quite for me. I generally want a bit more smoke than this offers, at least that I was able to detect at this particular time and point in the bottle after however long it had been open for. I’ve not taken notes on the standard Oban 14, only having had that at a bar once or twice, but I liked this more than I remember liking that, but a bit less than an NAS I tried at a large tasting which I regrettably can’t remember for certain (I believe it was Little Bay). Based on this fairly limited experience, for my palate the spirit Oban makes gets better with Sherry, moreso the type of Sherry used for the Little Bay than Fino. I am pleased to have been able to try this, though while I have no plans to try it again, I will not deliberately avoid having it if an opportunity comes up down the road.

Score: 72

Connemara Distillers Edition

I was intrigued about Connemara being a peated Irish whiskey, trying to recreate how whiskey would have been when peat was the fuel source on the island, and I particularly enjoyed the 12 year expression. I was interested in how it was finished in Sherry casks.

Connemara Distillers Edition, Ireland Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Matured in ex-Bourbon casks, finished in Sherry casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, rested about 10 minutes. 

Color: Bright gold.

Nose: Sweet fruit, like there’s honey there. Soft, pine-like smoke.

Taste: Earthy, Irish malt, gingery spice.

Finish: Long, smokiest part of the dram, clove.

It’s a bit more interesting that the standard expression but falls short of the longer-aged varieties.

Score: 82