October 29, 2015

A Lagavulin Quartet

Did you know that an explosion and a fire occurred at Lagavulin in 1952? Was that their way of celebrating Elizabeth II’s coronation? Okay, enough easy content, today we’ll have a few young ones, including the new Special Release and this year’s Feis Ile – which wasn’t that young. We’re only five months late, after all…

Lagavulin 16 yo (43%, OB, +/- 2015)

I’m following Lagavulin 16 every year, which is actually totally useless, since I always find it very good (it always strikes 90+ in my book). But we stop at nothing… It’s also the whisky I’m always having when in bars or restaurants. We’ll try to be quick, but this baby usually chats a lot… Colour: dark gold. Nose: what the… did it improve? I’m finding it brighter, fresher, a tad fruitier and zestier than usual, with mandarins on top of the leather, tobacco, tar, walnuts, and smoked tea. And salmiak. Immediate pleasures. Mouth: same feeling, it’s a little sweeter, perhaps, with touches of oranges, then liquorice, olives, lime, lemon balm, and just a touch of green pepper. Leather. Some salt starts to play with your lips. Finish: pretty long, earthier, with some pu-erh tea, liquorice, and just a touch of some kind of smoked caramel. Salt and lime in the aftertaste, a bit ‘margarita’. Comments: faultless as ever. I would go to 90.5, should I be mad enough to do halves. SGP:467 - 90 points.

Lg5 (54.8%, Specialty Drinks, Elements of Islay, 2015)

No need to say that we have no proof whatsoever that this is Lagavulin. Could as well be some hyper-fortified manzanilla from La Gitana that would have matured on Islay (who needs appellations anyway). Colour: pale white wine. Nose: so very young Lagavulin! Starts with rhubarb, green pears, and cigarette smoke, broken branches, a little linoleum, and goes on with a touch of tequila, plus some seawater and freshly malted barley. Sour dough. Noses young and mature, if you see what I mean. With water: we’re at a baker’s. More dough, fresh bread, fresh pastries… And he’s using peat to fire the oven. Lovely whiffs of orange blossom as well. Mouth (neat): wham! A bit hot, but the sweetness makes it approachable. Orange sweets, eau-de-vie de poire williams, jelly babies, and many smoked things, with a leathery touch just like in the official 16. With water: impeccable return to the fundamentals. Sweet peat, Turkish delights, a little tar. Finish: long, with a sweet/grassy touch. Spicy fruits in the aftertaste (pears in syrup with cloves and aniseed). Comments: I’m starting to feel that this session will be embarrassingly homogeneous. SGP:548 - 91 points.

Lagavulin 12 yo 'Special Release 2015' (56.8%, OB)

Integrally ex-refill American oak. Who would be against that. This baby’s a hit everywhere every year, including at WF Towerz. Colour: white wine. Nose: we’re extremely close to Lg5, this official’s just got a little more malty/coffeeish notes, as if the wood was a notch more active, and a peatiness that’s a little more leathery/tarry, so a little heavier and less bright and lively. But the whole remains a bright and lively Lagavulin. Love these notes of earthy pear pie. Beach sand. With water: just more proof that Lagavulin Distillery and its people are doing the greatest job. What a pure, yet fat, yet bright, yet heavy, yet elegant smoky spirit. What I especially like at Lagavulin is the fact that it’s not only about peat. Mouth (neat): exactly the same feeling. A tad fatter and oilier. Barbecued marshmallows and sausages grilled over a bonfire. Ah, our boy scout days… Love this. Less wood, more spirit, that’s our motto. With water: what? Can you smoke and salt multi-vitamin fruit juice? And add chamomile, eucalyptus tea, and bits of bacon and kipper? Finish: long and warming, but remaining fresh, which is quite an achievement. Liquorice allsorts in the aftertaste, which reminds us of what Wise Pinkie MacArthur always says, ‘Lagavulin is sweet’. Also a little new oak, bizarrely. Pencil shavings. That can’t be! Comments: Lagavulin’s annual 12 is like Sticky Fingers, everyone should have it in his stash. And I like it just as much as the new Port Ellen ’83. SGP:657 - 92 points.

We could stop but we’ll have one more…

Lagavulin 1991/2015 'Feis Ile' (59.9%, OB)

Yes we’re late. But you may have noticed that there are only 365 days in a year. Ahem. This baby was ‘triple matured’ in US Oak, Pedro Ximenez, and oak puncheons. Was that, I mean, done successively, or a vatting? Sure I could find out, but let’s not lose any more time… Colour: pale gold. Nose: awawaow… It makes the youngsters nose… well, young in comparison. They have found a Broraness, I’d say. First wax, then all things from a deep forest, including moss, mushrooms, fern, pine needles, leprechauns (what?)… And long-forgotten natural turpentine, shoe polish, grandma’s walnut wine, grapefruit liqueur… There is a sherriness, but I find it appropriately minimal, with just a few raisins. All the rest just mingled with this superb spirit. With water: oh a medicinal side. Lagavulin’s hardly the most medicinal of them all on southern Islay, but this one does reek of ‘a gentle hospital’. Mouth (neat): look, and I swear I’m not making this up, this baby reminds me of an old no-age Lagavulin spring cap. The one with doctors’ advices on the label. Well I’m sure this one cures anything. Love the citrons, the menthol, the salty smoke, the cocoa, the notes of Campari (I know, no brand names), the shoe polish… With water: sparkling lemon wine! A bit surprising, but lovely. Islay’s spritz. Finish: rather long, clean, citrusy, smoky, salty, balanced… Only very, very, very tiny flaw, traces of pencil shavings in the aftertaste (sucking a pencil). Comments: wouldn’t there be room for a great 25 yo Lagavulin within each year’s Special Releases? SGP:557 - 93 points.

The new 12 and TWE’s Lg5 are today’s musts if you ask me. See you tomorrow.

Check the index of all Lagavulin I've tasted so far