A wonderful mistake
1.2 Lagavulin (16yo, 43%)
Been busy of late so haven't been virtually visiting the distilleries as frequently as I should be - so when I found myself with a couple of hours on my hands in Heathrow Airport today I decided it was time to add another conquest to the list. I promptly bought myself a large dram of the only single malt available in the Pilots bar in T5 (and yes, they literally sell a solitary single malt). That whisky happened to be Lagavulin 16yo and after a brief chat with the barman which resulted in him removing the ice I specifically told him not to put in, I sat down at the laptop and promptly discovered that I'd already 'visited' Lagavulin on my tour as it was actually the very first distillery I ticked off.
Granted it was a 12yo cask strength that I kicked off with back then, but a Lagavulin nonetheless. Still, what was I supposed to do? Not drink it?
Tasting notes, after a fashion:
So, how does the teenage sibling compare to its younger brother? Well, the first impression is a massive cartoon caricature scud of peaty smoke and it's instantly easy to understand the frequent comparison with Lapsang Souchong tea. (Incidentally, I don't know how often people actually do it but there's a very pleasant hour to be had drinking a peaty Islay malt while sipping away at a pot of good quality Lapsang Souchong tea. Just saying...)
It's bigger and bolder and mightier and just more than the 12yo with bags of smoke, salty seaweed and iodine, giving way - eventually - to a gorgeous layer of spice and sherry and vanilla. Absolutely astonishing considering how few ingredients go into making the stuff.
Get it in your mouth though and everything flips: the first thing I'm getting is honey sweetness and creamy vanilla with the sherry and rich fruit coming through too. The smoke and peat is still there, and there in bags, but it's much more in a supporting role for me, rather than the star of the show. Stunning big, dense, rich dram.
The finish is big and booming but again dominated by subtler, more elegant flavours before it fades and the smoke and iodine and peat arrives to perfume your breath for the next 20 minutes.
Dilute it a touch with a splash of water and the nose loses some of its edge, most of its potency and much of its allure.
In the mouth the water also takes off some of the bolder edges but also removes or at least softens some of the sharpness, and not in a good way. I like a drop of water in lots of whiskies but this isn't one of them. A big, fierce, regal beast is reduced to a slightly flabby shadow of itself. The flavours are all still there and you can find every one of them - but the experience of seeking them out is far less fun than having them assault you the way they did neat.
But in its raw form this is a keeper. A very special bruiser of a dram but veiled in silk.
5/5
Been busy of late so haven't been virtually visiting the distilleries as frequently as I should be - so when I found myself with a couple of hours on my hands in Heathrow Airport today I decided it was time to add another conquest to the list. I promptly bought myself a large dram of the only single malt available in the Pilots bar in T5 (and yes, they literally sell a solitary single malt). That whisky happened to be Lagavulin 16yo and after a brief chat with the barman which resulted in him removing the ice I specifically told him not to put in, I sat down at the laptop and promptly discovered that I'd already 'visited' Lagavulin on my tour as it was actually the very first distillery I ticked off.
Granted it was a 12yo cask strength that I kicked off with back then, but a Lagavulin nonetheless. Still, what was I supposed to do? Not drink it?Tasting notes, after a fashion:
So, how does the teenage sibling compare to its younger brother? Well, the first impression is a massive cartoon caricature scud of peaty smoke and it's instantly easy to understand the frequent comparison with Lapsang Souchong tea. (Incidentally, I don't know how often people actually do it but there's a very pleasant hour to be had drinking a peaty Islay malt while sipping away at a pot of good quality Lapsang Souchong tea. Just saying...)
It's bigger and bolder and mightier and just more than the 12yo with bags of smoke, salty seaweed and iodine, giving way - eventually - to a gorgeous layer of spice and sherry and vanilla. Absolutely astonishing considering how few ingredients go into making the stuff.
Get it in your mouth though and everything flips: the first thing I'm getting is honey sweetness and creamy vanilla with the sherry and rich fruit coming through too. The smoke and peat is still there, and there in bags, but it's much more in a supporting role for me, rather than the star of the show. Stunning big, dense, rich dram.
The finish is big and booming but again dominated by subtler, more elegant flavours before it fades and the smoke and iodine and peat arrives to perfume your breath for the next 20 minutes.
Dilute it a touch with a splash of water and the nose loses some of its edge, most of its potency and much of its allure.
In the mouth the water also takes off some of the bolder edges but also removes or at least softens some of the sharpness, and not in a good way. I like a drop of water in lots of whiskies but this isn't one of them. A big, fierce, regal beast is reduced to a slightly flabby shadow of itself. The flavours are all still there and you can find every one of them - but the experience of seeking them out is far less fun than having them assault you the way they did neat.
But in its raw form this is a keeper. A very special bruiser of a dram but veiled in silk.
5/5
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