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.
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)”
Well, it looks like my hopes that this is a somewhat regular release from Lagavulin exploring slightly different things each time. And fortunately it’s not at too quick of a pace, though it’s about as regular as I’d want it. Whiskybase only has a 750ml version and I read this is a US only release (not confirmed though as the source wasn’t official) so I wonder what that means about how this sells in certain markets. Anyway, with the first two releases enjoyable enough, I plan to keep getting these knowing it’s not just a celebrity endorsement to sell sub-par stock, at least until that happens. Let’s see if it’s still a worthwhile release.
Nose: Smoke, seaside. A touch of wine, then it’s masked by the smoke and sea. Honey, molasses, green wood. Maybe some citrus.
Taste: Smoked seafood/weed. Creosote. Some spice.
Finish: Nice musty smoke. Salty chocolate covered caramel. Wood spice. Medium, maybe erring in the medium-long direction.
Worthwhile indeed, at least where it’s priced near MSRP (I paid around $70 and think it’s fair). I’m definitely a fan and this is an excellent Lagavulin. It reminds me of some of the 12 year old special releases (disclaimer: not nearly the same presence due to the ABV). This feels like a really good one to wrap up reviewing before my side by side Bowmore review coming up in a couple days leading into this year’s Advent calendar.
Score: 87
Musical Evocation: Willie Nelson – “The Scientist”
Lagavulin 12 is the first whisky that ever really blew me away. It’s like I thought I knew peated whisky, and then I happened to order it at a bar. Also, I’ve been making a push and fiddling with my schedule to start getting in reviews of newer acquisitions closer to the time they release than I typically have been, so my reviews can help inform some decisions prior to the secondary market being the only source. Let’s get to it.
Lagavulin 12 Virgin Oak & Smokiest Reserves Special Release 2022, Islay Single Malt, 57.3% ABV
Minutia: Matured for 12 years at least partially in virgin oak casks and drawn from their smokiest reserves. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.
Nose: Smoke, beach, sawdust, iodine. Grass, putty. Sweet petrichor.
Taste: Smoky shells. Earthy. There’s something real nice in that earthy area that builds as it opens up in your mouth. It piqued and maintained my interest bigtime.
Finish: Maritime and seafood. A sweetness. Medium-short.
While I didn’t explicitly need it, this is the kind of whisky that can rekindle a love for whisky (or kindle it, I suppose). As a person who dislikes seafood, I could have done with less of those elements, but even with that it’s still a fantastic dram. With my budget and storage having greatly reduced the rate that I acquire bottles of whisky, I was over the moon thrilled when the two special releases I wanted were available in 200ml bottles. I am now equally unthrilled I did not buy a bottle of this.
Score: 90
Musical Evocation: White Ward – “Stillborn Knowledge”
Again, not much to say before getting into this one. Let’s go!
Elements of Islay Lg6, Islay Single Malt, 53.7% ABV
Minutia: Distilled mostly in mid-2000s and matured in refill hogsheads for about 8 years and bottled in 2016, with a small amount of considerably older Sherry matured whisky. Reviewed blind, neat in an opaque glencairn.
Nose: Smoky, briny, medicinal, flirting with meaty.
Taste: Mossy, earthy, smoky, bitter citrus (the vaguest hint of grapefruit).
Finish: Fire, wood, smoke, coffee. Medium. Overall a pretty ‘toasty’ feel to the lingering flavors.
Guess: Young, bourbon Islay. Maybe Caol Ila or Kilchoman, but it doesn’t scream which distillery.
In hindsight, I should have had a closer guess as now I see the resemblance to (at least some releases of) the 12. Its smoky right from the beginning, and then after that initial bit the nose is more briny than smoky (but its still there) and the smoke plays its role more on the palate. This was one of those drams that got better for me as it progressed, from nose to taste to finish. It’s quite nice, and a great dram in the colder weather.
Score: 84
Here are links to the other posts from this calendar:
I like Lagavulin, and I like Nick Offerman, so when I heard of this I had reservations, but knowing Nick Offerman actively enjoys the product I had hopes it wouldn’t just be slapping a name on a bottle for marketing purposes. I’d have gotten it anyway, most likely, but fortunately the reviews suggested it was a worthwhile expression. Enough time transpired before I got to it to review that another edition was announced and released, that one with a finish. The finish was novel in that the casks hadn’t held another spirit, wine, or fortified wine, and happened to be in barrels which held one of the few beers I actually enjoy. So I decided to post the reviews as a side by side and see what impact the Guinness casks might have had.
Lagavulin 11 Offerman Edition, Islay Single Malt, 46% ABV
Minutia: Matured for 11 years. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with the Guinness Cask Finish edition.
Nose: Beachy. It’s a bit closed, with some effort there’s some firewood. It’s not wood, and it’s not smoke, but it’s like if you looked at your firewood and imagined how it would smell once burned.
Taste: Spicy at first, fades to reveal a floral woody character. Like tasting walking through blooming trees.
Finish: Bitter, smoky, earthy. Whatever balances those notes and stops them from being overpowering is masked by them. Some honey later, with spice appearing again. Long.
This is a decent dram, and at retail price it’s about right. I prefer a lot to this, but I prefer this to a bunch, as well. It was a bit more reserved than I’d have liked.
Minutia: Matured for 11 years, the last 4 months of which were spent in casks from the Baltimore Guinness brewery that previously held their stout. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with the standard edition.
Nose: Green wood, seaweed, driftwood, coffee beans (dark).
Taste: Smoky coffee with a stouty richness. Bit of spice and herbs. Slightly medicinal, but a background player.
Finish: A chocolatey stout note, bitter. It’s hard to describe without putting it in the context of the finish of a stout or a rich, chocolately porter. Long.
This is really neat, it’s fun to taste beer in a whisky. The color was lighter, which surprised me, as I’d have thought the casks would be a little more active in that realm, but they must have held the stout a number of times before being used for this. Definite influence of them, however. Definite stouty notes in a vacuum, more obvious when done AB.
Score: 84
Musical Evocation: Alestorm featuring Lady Gaga – “Magnetic Telephone”
The stout finish is nice. I want to see more of it, and more less-than-traditional casks experiemented with (looking at you, SWA). For me, the more gimmicky one was better by a touch, and neither were unpleasant nor revelatory. I wouldn’t hate it if different versions became a (semi)regular thing, as it’s enjoyable and a neat concept if future editions explored similar territory, just as long as they don’t end up beating a dead horse with releases being too regular. These were released about a year and a half apart, and that’s absolutely as regular as I’d want it. Supposing it did become a somewhat regular release, every two or three years for as long as Nick Offerman is culturally relevant would be pretty nice.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
This post is about the Top 10 Whiskies I tried over the course of 2020. It is all about when I took the notes, not when the whiskies were released, and they are in no particular order.
Guess: The initial feeling on the nose was that it was familiar and I’d had a fair amount of something similar. That sense returned in the finish. The seawood had me leaning Caol Ila. That big buttery note (and then the doughy one that came into the nose after sipping) reminded me of Kilkerran Heavily Peated, so maybe a Kilkerran or Springbank, possibly the 15 Rum Wood. While it has that similarity to a Kilkerran, there’s just not enough “Campbeltown” in here. I’d guess an Elements of Islay Caol Ila, or possibly an Ardbeg.
This makes a ton of sense. It’s neat I got the bottler right, and Lagavulin shares some aspects with Caol Ila and others with Ardbeg so I can see why I was between those two. But seeing that it’s Lagavulin, and this is all ex-Bourbon, and 10-ish years old, that familiarity was a connection to Lagavulin 8. It’s pretty similar as I remember that, and while I gave it a higher score, I do think this is a bit better than the 8 due to that buttery note on the palate.
Score: 89
Musical Evocation: Apocalypse Orchestra – “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
Here are links to the other posts from this calendar:
It’s amusing that day 1 was An Cladach, and day 2 is this. Is there an Adach for tomorrow? Marketed as “The Coastal Blend,” that moniker and the blend's makeup intrigued me. The price did not. Fortunately I found a sample available and got that. Then the other day a review had me second guessing whether I should have pulled the trigger. Was it the right move?
Cladach Special Release 2018, Scotland Blended Malt, 57.1% ABV
Minutia: Comprised of Caol Ila, Lagavulin, Oban, Talisker, Clynelish, and Inchgower. No age statement or casks. Reviewed blind neat in a glencairn.
Guess: I was all over the place over the course of this. Initially it felt like Ledaig, then I was thinking Port Charlotte, then Caol Ila, or Lagavulin, and even Longrow crossed my mind though I don’t think I have any Longrows in the pool. If I did it would have been my guess. My guess would be either an Elements of Islay bottle or a blend.
While I couldn’t pinpoint it, I feel good about having been so confused since there are six parts of this, two of which were possible guesses. The ABV was a surprise, I was initially thinking about 50% as the nose had little burn to it, and took the over when there was some spice on the palate. Turns out I regret getting a sample instead of a bottle. No more stock will be the only reason I don’t order one sometime soon. Nicely done, Diageo. If Blue Label were this, nobody would have anything bad to say about it.
I liked the show enough, and as a collector, I ended up wanting a bottle from the distilleries I enjoy from which an expression was made despite initially being disinterested. I was skeptical with most expressions being unique to the line (except one, I believe) and figured it might have been better to slap some imagery on a standard release than come up with a bunch of new, temporary expressions. I ended up trying the Cardhu one at a friend’s and was not exactly thrilled, particularly with the bland expression being represented by a dragon. I had to hold onto hope the distilleries I know make good stuff could release something serviceable.
Lagavulin 9 Game of Thrones House Lannister, Islay Single Malt, 46% ABV
Minutia: Classic Diageo lack of cask disclosure, but at least we got an age statement. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.
Nose: Earthy, woody, spicy smoke. Either smoke with those three qualities or maybe it’s just the first three with a bit of smoke, too. Musty banana bread, more like a cabinet where banana bread was rather than as full as smelling the actual loaf. Low potency dark fired Kentucky.
Taste: Woody earth with salt. Smoke in the back and comes up. Less smoke itself, makes itself known with the spiciness, like a smoked cinnamon.
Finish: Classic Lagavulin peat comes in big. Salty. Long.
While I hadn’t been dabbling outside of my preferred peat as I had done several months ago, something about this felt like a return to form, or a return home. This would make a fine regular expression at a price point in line with its age/ABV. I’m glad they had the Game of Thrones line to give them a reason to release this. I feel like if they did a limited 9 year old for no reason it would have seemed strange, and with the 8 being core a 9 doesn’t make much sense. Not sure why they mixed this up with the dragon/Cardhu when this is smoky and that one was uninspiring, and also had gold in the name.
Not much to say, I like it when distilleries I like try new things, particularly if they aren’t just gimmicky. Saw this was available online and placed an order to try it.
Lagavulin 10, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV
Minutia: Matured in rejuvenated and ex-Bourbon casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.
Nose: Smoke, sour malt, banana. Overall farmy feel. The smoke is like charcoal.
Taste: Light, salt, smoke, caramel, bit of spice.
Finish: Salty into more smoke. Vanallaish. Spicy.
This was a welcome change of pace to what I had been drinking, which was airing on the lighter/tamer side after the peated Bunnahabhains I was drinking. I enjoyed the return to strong flavors.
Score: 85
Musical Evocation: Skagos – “A Night That Ends, As All Nights End, When the Sun Rises”
Always interested in at least trying something from Lagavulin, it was pretty neat to find a sample of something that I couldn’t really buy without going somewhere. Finally got around to trying it, and here are my thoughts. Tragically I don’t have a Duke Silver toy, so please accept my expert modifications.
Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival 2016, Islay Single Malt, 54.5% ABV
Minutia: I read this was about 75% 15 year old whisky in refill casks and 25% 1st-fill ex-Bourbon casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.
Without much access to these bottles, fortunately another one came up as available as a sample. Being able to have a Lagavulin IB for a decent price is nice, since I don’t see them around all that often.
Elements of Islay Lg10, Islay Single Malt, 57.4% ABV
Minutia: Matured in 2007in three ex-Bourbon barrels and bottled in 2019 making a total of 986 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.
Nose: Bright fruit and smoke, musty, some sea-like quality not quite like brine.
Taste: Tropical fruit, peppery burn. There’s a tiny bit of smoky flavor, but not much. Salt.
Finish: Long. Brine, tarry smoke.
I really liked how it changed from the nose to the finish. It’s unusual in my experience for a flavor like smoke to be present on the ends and mostly absent in the middle – I typically find that a flavor comes in and remains or drops and stays out. Lagavulin makes some nice stuff, and I’m glad to have had a very small batch and am looking forward to the other bottles I currently have.
