Lagavulin 12 Special Release 2022 Virgin Oak & Smokiest Reserves

 

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.

Color: Old gold; 0.6.

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”

Talisker 8 Smokiest Reserves 2021 Special Release

I like Talisker and I really like peat, so I was pretty amped when this one was announced and I’m quite interested in trying what they consider some of their smokiest stock. Here we go.

Talisker 8 2021 Special Release, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 59.7% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 8 years and bottled in 2021 as a Special Release by Diageo, the label saying it is “from a selection of [their] smokiest reserves.” Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Pale straw; 0.2.

Nose: Smoke/ash, earthy, vegetal, slightly medicinal, seaweed.

Taste: Earthy, and a peppery wave shortly after swallowing. Creamy feel.

Finish: Salty, char, toffee (a bit burnt). Medium.

It’s not an Octomore or anything, but I quite enjoyed it. It’s got a nice smokiness to it and the peat comes through in a not-quite-dirty way, but more in the earthy/vegetal realm which I enjoy. Despite the reasons why I was eager to try this, I’m also looking forward to this year’s lighter release. Kind of like a reverse of the peated Cragganmore from a couple years ago.

Score: 85

Musical Evocation: Falls of Rauros – “Ancestors of Smoke”

Talisker 8 Cask Strength Rum Finish 2020 Special Release

 

I was really intrigued by this when it was announced. The 8 year old from a couple years prior was stellar, and the rum finish was something I was interested in trying. Anyway, finally got around to reviewing it so here it is.

Talisker 8 Cask Strength Rum Finish 2020 Special Release, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 57.9% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 8 years with a finish in Caribbean rum casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Amber; 0.7.

Nose: Green smoke, briny. Salty toffee. Seaweed.

Taste: Salty, young wood, salted toffee.

Finish: Earthy, spice, salty.

It’s nice, but simple. Not in a bad way, but also not in the way that it does one thing incredibly well. It felt like it would be better with more age. Fans of Talisker’s profile will like it well enough, but it doesn’t come close to the 8 year old from 2018.

Score: 82

Musical Evocation: Jinjer – “Judgement (& Punishment)”

Talisker 15 Cask Strength Special Release 2019

Finally getting to this almost to the day when the release two years later gets released.

Tallisker 15 Cask Strength 2019 Special Release, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 57.3% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 15 years in freshly charred American oak hogsheads and bottled in 2019. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Burnished; 1.1.

Nose: Smoke under minerally fruit. Malt with a lemony twinge to it. 

Taste: Spice, black pepper into cayenne. Tames to wood.

Finish: Malty, drying, a bit of spice. Ash late. Long. Like, very long.

This is pretty good, it’s nice to try an older cask strength expression from one of the first distilleries I enjoyed. I’ll have to revisit this in the future as the review was conducted with covid. While I don’t notice any loss of smell or taste elsewhere and got most if not all notes I expected from this, that could have been affected.

Score: 87

Talisker 8 Special Release 2018

I started getting into whisky shortly before this was released, but I wasn’t into it enough to know that Diageo did an annual set of special releases, nor had I dipped my toe into ordering from overseas as that was the only way to get this in the US I believe. When I read about this, liking Talisker it was something I felt determined to try, particularly based on it being highly regarded. Eventually I did start ordering from Europe but this was nowhere to be found until I saw this available at an auction, so I started bidding and ended up winning it, and my bank account hasn’t forgiven me since.

Talisker 8 Special Release 2018, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 59.4% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 8 years in first fill bourbon casks, the label says they are deep charred.

Color: Russet muscat, 1.3.

Nose: Fresh, earthy smoke. Medicinal must. Leathery tobacco. Fruit struggles to break through.

Taste: Malty, honey, pepper, herbal.

Finish: Charred meat, black pepper, salt. A sweetness becomes known eventually, like a honey that tastes a bit like something else, or kind of like chocolate that isn’t Hershey’s. Medium, though most on the shorter side. A subtle linger extends to long. That sweetness is the most resilient part, but it gets less good as the other notes fade away and no longer compliment it.

A nice dram, and to me a pretty novel one as Talisker usually hits a bit more lightly. That sweetness left in the finish isn’t altogether unpleasant, but without the other notes still present it’s just a flavor that’s kind of there. I like this a lot, and while I didn’t record any notes with water here, I recall a nice chocolate coming out in the finish. It’s a good addition, and a bit is also lost, and I’d say it’s a net-zero gain with water. The secondary market prices are probably a bit too high for this, but the price at release of what converted to about $90 is not a steal but a fair price. I also have a bottle of the 15 year old from 2019 and the 8 year old rum finish from 2020 I’m even more keen on getting opened after having this one.

Score: 90

Musical Evocation: Alestorm – “Treasure Chest Party Quest”

2020 Advent #2 - Cladach

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.

Color: Chestnut Oloroso Sherry, 1.2.

Nose: Familiar. Earthy caramel, vague smoke, slight hospital/lab.

Taste: Smoke, wood, spice, leather, tobacco kinda.

Finish: Earthy smoke, salinity. Medium long.

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. 

Score: 90

Musical Evocation: Helsott – “Eight Drunken Celts”

Here are links to the other posts from this calendar:

Cragganmore 12 Special Release 2019

I tried Cragganmore 12 when I was looking to take a break from peat, and had heard nice enough things that it fit the bill. I found it ok, but lacking some kind of punch. As a fan of peat, I felt it was the punch it needed, and some ABV over the measly 40% wouldn’t hurt. I liked that enough to take a shot on this after reading other notes here. After reviewing Caol Ila, Lagavulin, and Talisker Distillers Editions, I got the idea to revisit them in a side by side with their regular counterparts. Not wanting to spend the money on whole bottles of that when I’m overflowing my storage as is, I found the little “Classic Malts” sets of 20ml bottles and figured it would be a great way to do that without breaking the bank and eating up space at home. Fortunately for me, one of those packs included a tiny bottle of Cragganmore 12, and since my bottle of that is long gone I thought it would be fun to include a comparison in this review. So, here we go.

Cragganmore 12 Special Release 2019, Speyside Single Malt, 58.4% ABV

Minutia: Matured in refill American oak casks, this was a peated run of Cragganmore from when Diageo was worried about a drought on Skye compromising their stock of medium peated malt. That never came to be so they had the barrels and fortunately released them on their own instead of shipping them off the be blended. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn alongside the standard Cragganmore 12.

Color: Old gold, 0.6.

Nose: Malty and fruity, unmistakably like the standard 12. Little smoke if any, but coming back after nosing the 12 it’s there in a pretty big way. Kind of fun to see how differently things can be perceived under different circumstances.

Taste: Honey, that same Cragganmore malt that was in the nose, heat comes in and builds to wood and smoke.

Finish: Spicy smoke. Medium. After it’s mostly gone it’s a bit nutty.

At the end of the day, I’m glad I picked up this bottle. I liked it quite a bit more than the standard expression. I’m interested in trying a cask strength version of that without the peat to see how much of that difference is peat vs alcohol. I almost think it was a mistake to release this as going to the standard 12 after a sip of this, to my tastes it is outright boring, almost bordering on unpleasant. This drinks easily while still letting you know it’s there. It’s a nice dram to just have a glass of while lounging or spending time with friends.

Score: 83

Musical Evocation: Buckethead – “Ghost Host”

Lagavulin 12 2015 & 2016

What better way to mark my 100th review in the network with the dram that was my absolute favorite well before I even started reviewing. I had a Lagavulin 12 at a bar years ago and it was just nothing like what I’d had before. Based on the timing of when I had it, I assume it was the 2015 release, which I tracked down a bottle of. I decided to do this one side by side with the release from the following year, which was branded as a 200th anniversary edition. I’d only had that one glass before so have no experience with how the batches differed, and since this is a cask strength release and not quite so standard as the 8 year old, I’m expecting a bit of difference if nothing else due to the slight difference in ABV.

Lagavulin 12 2015, Islay Single Malt, 56.8% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 12 years in ex-Bourbon casks, bottled in 2015 at cask strength. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with the 2016 release.

Color: Deep Gold, 0.8.

Nose: Big smoky brine, smoked fish, but musty. There’s a meaty feel to it but it’s indistinct.

Taste: Pepper/heat, peat, salt.

Finish: Amping up smoke, salt. Long, salt last the most. The finish is so strong and long, doing this as a side by side I had to wait quite a bit while cleansing my palate to minimize influence of my perception of the 2015.

This is just really well put together, and nearly exactly what I want in a whisky. I understand why I found it so compelling that first time and I’ll want at least a bottle of this on hand all the time. I’ve heard a lot about batch variation, but unless it strays very, very far away from this it’s a definite win. If this was all Lagavulin made, they would be just as if not more infamous.

Score: 94

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Lagavulin 12 2016 200th, Islay Single Malt, 57.7% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 12 years in ex-Bourbon casks, bottled in 2016 at cask strength. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with the 2015 release.

Color: Deep Gold, 0.8.

Nose: Smoke, brine, smoked seafood. Bright woody note with a meaty feel (more salt-cured than smoke cured as the 2015 was).

Taste: Vegetal peat, pepper (arrives later than the immediate punch of the 2015), salt.

Finish: Pepper, smoked meat, very sharp.

This is similarly excellent to the 2015. Subtle differences, but it’s by and large the same expression. It makes sense why this is the only Diageo special release that has been the same every year, there’s just no reason to play around with it.

Score: 93