Lagavulin 200th Anniversary Limited Edition 8 year old 48%
Refill American oak/ Tasted: Apr 2016
Pungent and medicinal aromas with loads of sweet barley and hints of acacia honey beneath. A touch of fresh pine needles, white fruit, subtle salt and dusty peat smoke emerges with time.
The palate opens with the sweet barley, white fruit and creamy/ milky oak. Sweet peat, loam and coffee notes follow. It darkens on the middle as the malt arrives and dries as the rock salt notes kick in. Long and salty with lingering iodine enhanced crisp white fruit along with that pine needle freshness. In conclusion: A lovely Islay. Not overblown peat wise or one-dimensional, just very well balanced and seriously salty!
Lagavulin 200th Anniversary Limited Edition 8 year old 48%
Code: L62430100/ 57124597
Tasted: Aug 2020
The nose is briny and phenolic with rich, earthy apricot and oily barley. Hints of medicinal peat appear along with some dry peat, seaweed and very subtle American oak.
The palate is full and robust with barley, apricot, earth, medicinal peat and brine. The mid palate is very salty and almost austere but the dense and oily spirit character balances. Long, herbal, sweet violet and dry peat finish. Lovely salty/ bitter after-taste. I love the intensity and unfettered character.
Lagavulin 12 year old (8th Release) 56.4%
Refill American oak/ Btl: 2008/ Tasted: Nov 2008
Actually quite a delicate nose. Almost shy! Once it opens up there is a myriad of aromas – slightly medicinal peat, pure tobacco leaf, ferns/ bracken and a very distinct note of pine needles. The graceful smoke wafts in with the coastal nuances. Nowhere near as powerfully peaty as the 16 year old.
Oily and nicely fruity on the palate. Lovely purity of subtle orange, elusive peat, fern/ bracken and pine needles. Late peat smoke lazily drifts in. Very, very long with oodles of coastal character and although the peat is delicate and far from booming it slowly fills the mouth! A drop of water emphasises the salinity whilst on the palate it emphasises the oils, the fruit and the wood tannins. The refined Islay!
Lagavulin 12 year old (10th Release) 56.5%
Refill American oak/ Btl: 2010/ Tasted: Sept 2011
A crisp and phenolic nose with plenty of mentholated, briny peat. It displays a lovely depth with some beautifully sweet barley balancing the stringent peat reek. Quite oily and dense with hints of soft yellow fruits and banana.
The palate is full and intense. The peat builds pleasantly to a sooty, coal dusty middle. The extremely piquant alcohol kicks in on the middle! Add to that the rampant coastal character and you have a seriously mouth-puckering finish. It’s a complete contrast to the last bottle of cask strength 12 year old I tasted, that bottling was really subtle, especially compared to this one, which is what I love about small batch cask strength bottling, you just never know exactly what you are going to get. Anyway this wild ride draws to a close with hints of menthol, iodine, cocoa and a sliver of sweet barley lighting up the finish. Stunning stuff!
With water the nose has become a tad muted as the natural oils are released. The peat has taken on a more manuery character, but some sweet orange notes have now emerged. Obviously it is a touch softer on the palate with more tarry wood notes prevalent. The peat has become lazy and sooty and meanders across the tongue beautifully. Still mouth tingly fresh and briny with hints of shellfish and a sweet parma violet note in the finish.
Lagavulin 12 Years Old (11th Release) 57.5%
Refill American oak/ Btl: 2011/ Tasted: Feb 2012
A leafy, herbal and briny nose with hints of sweet barley and gentle coastal peat. Given time the aromas become icing sugar sprinkled and a slight medicinal note emerges. Quite gentle and reserved. Diluted it is less complex but some lovely luscious citrus emerges.
The palate is slightly oily, opening with some gentle white fruit with a touch of vanilla oak. Alcohol dominated with some herbal peat. With water the palate is a tad vague but still quite sugary. The peat finally comes rushing through and finishes with a seriously mouth-watering coastal finish. With water more herbal, bog myrtle notes appear. Conclusion: Wonderfully intense when neat although it becomes a tad vague diluted.
Lagavulin 12 year old (12th Release) 56.1%
Refill American oak/ Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Dec 2012
A fresh nose of ozone and brine. Wonderfully phenolic and full of oily barley, apricot, white fruit and crystallised orange. Lightly herbal with a leafy/nettle character followed by a touch of sooty/ tarry peat and dunnage.
The palate is quite soft to begin with, opening with the barley and fleshy fruit – lightly oiled apricot and white fruit. Hints of Arbroath smokies, soot and peat dust follow along with some beautiful building oils. The middle is wonderfully fresh with a Sauvignon Blanc-esque herbal note and some coastal notes. Very long with a sooty/salty finish.
With water the nose becomes softer with more of an emphasis on the white flower notes which develop a musky perfume. Gently earthy but very slightly soapy. The palate, just like the 2011 bottling is a little vague, and quite chalky with some crystallised and parma violet coming through. Less intense in the peat department but still pleasantly oily.
Lagavulin 12 year old (17th Release) 56.5%
Refill American oak Hogsheads/ Btl: 2017/ Tasted: Feb 2017
The nose is quite ashy and tobacco laden with hints of medicinal peat, green apple, barley and subtle salt. There is also, surprisingly a very light sulphur note.
The palate is sweeter and displays more barley with some noticeable vanilla oak. Pleasantly full with apiroct, green apple, earthy peat, menthol and building coastal notes on the middle. Lovely intensity with lingering sweet barley, vanilla and salt. Thankfully there’s no sulphur note on the palate!
Water emphasises the soot and citrus. It brings out a light violet and menthol note. Very fresh and juicy now. The palate is less sweet and oilier with less oak as well. it is still quite full in the mouth, although possibly not as complex. The oak has become quite creamy.
Lagavulin 12 year old (18th Release) 57.8%
Refill American oak Hogsheads/ Btl: 2018/ Tasted: Dec 2018
A dense, rich and oily nose with barley and subtle but encompassing dry peat. Hints of iodine, band-aid, wood char, salt, sweet apricot, lemon, elderflower and Japanese star fruit (sweet/ sour). It tightens up a bit with time as the salt pushes through and hints of kiwi, lime and gooseberry emerge.
Full and barley’d with chunky peat, smoke, oily barley and hints of lemon, apricot and apple. The alcohol is pretty intense and masks both the middle and the finish, although the finish is very spicy with peat dust, gritty tannins but also some lovely sweet/ sour fruit and barley.
With water the nose is less salty, which allows the fleshy fruit to come through. Hints of heather, seaweed and really juicy barley, tangerine/ clementine emerge. The peat is subtler too. The palate is softer and oilier with like the nose more fleshy fruit and rich barley. Still salty with lightly medicinal peat and a wisp of peat smoke, iodine and charred oak. Very salty middle and finish with hints of tangerine, melon, apple and finally coffee’d oak and malt. A seriously impressive whisky!
Lagavulin 12 year old ‘Special Releases 2021’ 56.5%
Refill American oak/ Code: L1103CM006/ Tasted: Mar 2022
The nose is full, oily and slightly medicinal with plenty of oily peat, tar, salt, and fresh barley. Very subtle oak, which allows the weighty spirit to take centre stage. Late bog myrtle, chocolate and sweet citrus fruit.
The palate is intense, oily and full. Quite coffee’d to begin with earthy peat, salt, iodine, bog myrtle, weighty barley and fruit. Stunning intensity and herbal middle. Long, very salty and juicy with lingering rich, oily fruit, citrus, bog myrtle and astringent peat.
With water the nose become sweeter and displays more barley character. Wonderfully juicy and citric with softer peat but possibly slight more manure. The palate mirrors the nose, sweeter and barley’ d but also still very salty and astringent notes. Superbly balanced, mouth-filling and juicy with a long, oily, astringent and salty finish.
Lagavulin 16 year old 43%
Btl; 2004/ Tasted: June 2004
A powerfully peaty nose, yet underneath is a very complex malt. Smoked kippers, sherried orange fruit, earth, malt, a slight toffee ness and a sprinkling of sea air.
Smooth, rich and. full bodied with a nice oiliness. Pungently peaty, long and intense with tangy fruit on the middle and the peat returning on the finish.
Lagavulin 16 year old 43%
Code: L9097CM000/ Btl: 2009/ Re-Tasted Apr 2010
A lovely, soft and mature nose, opening with distinctive sherry cask dried fruits, walnuts and sugar coated orange peel, followed by smoke, slightly medicinal peat, bog myrtle and fern/ bracken notes. Over time an almost perfumed blood orange note appears as does the trade mark salted kippers. Superb complexity.
The palate open with the creamy American oak followed by gentle brine and peat smoke, building to a softly-intense leafy/ bog myrtle peated middle. The sherried dried fruits lurk in the background creating a hearty background for the mature orange fruit, smoked kippers, saline and peat to accentuate. Wonderfully gentle, yet robust and persistent. Finishing with a hint of Bowmore/Ardbeg-esque parma violets and the nutty dried fruit notes lingering.
Lagavulin 16 Years Old 43%
Code: L1299CM000/ Btl: 2011/ Tasted: Feb 2012
A lovely mature, slightly tropical, flambéed banana and refill sherry wood nose. Lightly toffee’d with some gentle, old peat and vegetation. Slightly medicinal with alcohol soaked bandages.
The palate is full of wonderfully Demerara sugar coated mature fruit. Gentle and mellow with a slight coastal character and gentle, mature peat. Long and subtle with no shortage of salty herbal notes and a touch of green wood in the finish. Conclusion: A lovely mature Islay.
Lagavulin 16 year old 43%
Code: L2324CM000/ Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Feb 2013
The nose is slightly lighter on the grape, thus showing more smoke, coffee, and slightly crisp barley. Gently tarry and phenolic more a good briny intensity. The barley develops a lovely sweet sheen and an embracing sootiness. In my opinion less sherry = better balance.
Lightly oiled on the palate and very sooty. Like the nose it’s subtly sherried and allows the sooty peat notes unfettered access to the tongue! Pleasantly fruity with hints of orange and tangerine, coated with a light fish oil and impregnated with some lovely spices. The sherry sweetness comes through on the middle and does offer up a slightly confected note but its back to coal/ peat dust and finishing with a slightly herbal nuance.
Lagavulin 16 year old 43%
Code: L4273CM000/ Btl: 2014/ Re-Tasted: Jan 2015
Pretty heavily sherried with the dried fruit and toffee blanketing the peat. It’s still there though with hints of seaweed, tangerine, orange and smoked meat and late nutty notes.
The palate is very toffee’d with again plenty of sherried dried fruit. The peat is quite sweet and dry with hints of camphor and citrus. Again the sherry or caramel is subduing the peat, but the finish is intense and mouth-watering, if a little hot. Not as impressive as it has been. Is that because the sherry or the caramel?
Lagavulin 16 year old 43%
Code: L5244CM000/ Btl: 2015/ Tasted: July 2015
Pungent aromas of treacle, oil, malt, herbal peat, dried fruit and herbal Oloroso.
The palate is full and malty with dark sherry, treacle, nuts, dried grape, peat and bog myrtle. It becomes quite dusty on the middle with hints of coal dust and plenty of edgy sherry, brine and, dark chocolate and coffee. The finish is very bitter, more bitter than I’ve ever known, yes there are some tannins but that bitterness could well be caramel related.
Lagavulin 16 year old 43%
Code: L5292CM000/ Btl: 2015/ Re-Tasted: Sept 2015
This is the third time I have tasted the 16 year old this year and on the previous two occasions I have been somewhat underwhelmed and I think the problem is down to the use of caramel which has flattened and bittered this once majestic malt. The nose of this bottling wasn’t too bad with more of the usual thick treacle, subtle earthy peat and hints of marmalade orange. A touch of fragrant barley could be discerned along with hints of herbs and burnt wood.
The palate began optimistically with the thick treacle, tar and sherry. Gently peated with earth, coffee and burnt wood. Although the finish had a lip smacking coastalness and some chocolaty tannins it was still pretty bitter, which would seem to imply that caramel was still being used.
Lagavulin 16 years old 43%
Code: L8232CM021/ Btl: 2018/ Re-Tasted: Dec 2018
Subtle iodine, seaweed and rich Oloroso fruit on the nose. Lightly peated with developing salty notes and malt.
The palate is rich but subtle with juicy oxidised fruit, barley, iodine and light peat. Robust and balanced with a lovely fleshy apricot and banana middle. Long and sooty with lingering apricot, apple and oily/ tarry notes. Thankfully I’m not getting any caramel bitterness this time!
Lagavulin 1991 (16 year old) ‘Distillers Edition’ 43%
Pedro Ximenez Finish/ Code: LGV.4/496
Dist: 1991 Btl: 2008/ Tasted: Dec 2008
A big, rich and very sweet nose, tempered by sea spray, peat, tar and beeswax.
Very syrupy on the palate, almost overwhelmingly sweet with the smoky medicinal peat and seaweed flavours breaking through. Definitely distinctive, but a bit too sweet for me!
Lagavulin 1994 (16 year old) ‘Distillers Edition’ 43%
Pedro Ximenez Finish/ Code: LGV.4/498
Dist: 1994 Btl: 2010/ Tasted: Oct 2011
A big, sweet, dried grape and toffee’d molasses nose. The cask definitely holds back the ‘Vulin character but some stinky, manurey peat begins to emerge as does some coastal notes but the PX cask has it clamped in a vice-like grip.
The palate is to me not as sweet as I remember it, but that was 3 years ago. There is a profusion of dried grape, raisinated fruit along with chocolate and coffee. Like the nose the distillery character has been seriously blunted although it kind of creeps out on the finish with a touch of sooty peat. Not exactly my favourite expression, but there is no denying the quality of both cask and spirit.
Lagavulin 1996 (16 year old) ‘Distillers Edition’ 43%
Pedro Ximenez Finish/ Code: LGV.4/500
Dist: 1996 Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Nov 2013
The nose is sweet and treacly with crystallised orange and burnt coffee. Some lightly medicinal peat lurks under the weight of the sherry finish. With time the aromas become quite perfumed with some dusty violets and earthy peat emerging but the cask as they say is king!
The palate is full, treacly and a little flat. Where’s the peat? It’s well and truly buried under the weight of raisins, toffee and walnut sherry notes. Hints of crystallised orange, burnt wood, dusty violets and a touch of herbal/medicinal peat eventually come through on the finish but the cask is holding firm. The peat does becomes pleasantly dusty on the after-taste however.
Lagavulin 1999 (16 year old) Distillers Edition 43%
Code: LGV. 4/504
Dist: 1991 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: July 2019
A big, rich nose of pruney Pedro Ximinez, treacle, tar, earth and peat. There’s a touch of bog myrtle and iodine. I have to say that this batch is quite well balanced and the finishing cask is kept in check by the coastal character. Late marmalade orange, sweet peat smoke, salt and raisinated fruit.
The palate is considerably lighter in body than the nose would suggest with plenty of salt but the treacly sherry builds and eventually blankets the peat. Subtly earthy with a touch of iodine and bog myrtle. Medium, flat-ish finish with the salt returning to curtail the cask.
Lagavulin 25 year old 57.2%
Dist: 1977 Btl: 2002/ Tasted: 2005
Clean, deep and very complex, unmistakably Lagavulin, full of rich matured sherry, sweet peat, Islay fauna and flora, animals, smoke, spice and a touch of orange fruit – Stunning with a crisp, fresh edge to it.
Soft, dry and rounded on the palate. The peat gently builds, followed by sherry fruit which lusciously coats the mouth, coal smoke and iodine. This has power and maturity. Water brings out the fauna and orange on the nose, and makes the palate purr! – A well honed mature Islay.
Lagavulin 25 year old 57.2%
Dist: 1977 Btl: 2002/ Re-Tasted: July 2016
Huge, primal gobs of gritty and spicy Oloroso on the nose. Stinky and manurey with chunky malt and subtle peat. Lightly smoked and meaty with late hints of crystallised orange and violet.
Soft but g ritty Oloroso on the palate with dried fruit and coffee. Pretty tannic, but those tannins are softened by the treacle. Subtly peated with prune and dried grape. The alcohol is perfectly integrated and balances the sweetness. Long and citric with the sooty peat finally pushing through the sherry. Lingering dried fruit, treacle and coffee.
Whisky According to Chris Whiskyman 