I took a really nice picture from the roof of my old friend Mr. Tiffen's brewery, which he's built onto the back of his house. Unfortunately it's not quite finished yet so we didn't get to brew anything, but it's great to perch on the edge of the roof and watch the sunset with a whisky.
Beautiful sunset over the Itchen. I think it was Springbank CV. I also just noticed how long my thumb looks in this picture.
Well, that's enough of the holiday banter, I'll do a palate developing post soon about the iodine stain in my old friend My Tiffen's cupboard. I'll share the picture of the mushroom we found growing out of his kitchen wall in that one too. Time to get to business with the Lagavulin review.
Bit of an intro
I'll do the important stuff first this time. It's an Islay whisky, 16 years old and is bottled at 43%. I've got a small bottle which is 20cl like the rest of the six classic malts I'm sampling. 16 years is quite old for the most basic standard expression of a spirit, 10 or 12 is more usual. I paid 204.9 kr at the official norwegian offy. (That's £20, $32.87, 25.23 euros or 1,212.91 rubles.) It's chill filtered of course and although it's aged in sherry casks (which gives a darker colour as well as particular flavours) it still has caramel colouring added. Naughty Diageo. (Consistent product, blah blah... We've covered all that.)The Lagavulin distillery was officially opened in 1816 but there are records of slightly less legal distilling on the site since 1742. That's 74 years of cheekiness. It's located in the south of Islay between the Laphroaig and Ardbeg distilleries. The name's a kind of anglicized version of the Gaelic name "lag a'mhuilin", which means "hollow by the mill". How quaint. There were several legal battles in the 1800s between Lagvulin and Laphroaig over leases and the accusation that Lagavulin were trying to copy the style of Laphroaig, which they kind of were, although with different water and peat at their premesis the results were different.
I'm getting slightly more interesting in the shape of stills and things like that as I'm learning more about how it affects flavour. Lagavulin is distilled slower than any other Islay malt and they use onion shaped stills. They don't say what variety of onion, but I assume they mean your basic, bulbous onion. A spring onion shaped still would be weird.
The lagavulin distillery used to contain another distillery, a bit like russian dolls but on a massive scale. It produced "Malt Mill" Lagavulin which is now very rare indeed and worth more money than I've ever heard of. I gather there's only one known bottle still in existence.
Possibly worth more than all the money you've ever earned.
I can't think of anything more to say about it for now. There's nothing stopping you doing your own research. You might like to investigate the disputes with Laphroaig if you're into that kind of thing. I thought it would take up a bit too much space. Oh yeh, other expressions include a 12 yo cask strength and a "distiller's edition" which is finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. All the six malts have a distiller's edition which I might get round to reviewing. I've only tried the Talisker one and that's awesome. All very exciting but it's high time for the actual review...
Packaging
Bask in the glow of this delightful image:
Full on whisky box eye candy.
I love the Lagavulin's packaging. It looks black but it's actually very dark green. It's quite plain but in a really posh way. The writing is gold but there's not too much of it. It's not too eye catching, which (having tasted it) suggests that the whisky is good enough to speak for itself. I particularly like the little symbol on the top.
Very posh.
There's a bit of a blurb on the back of the box in tiny writing. They hint at nice scenery and tradition but in a subtle way that doesn't smell so much of marketing as some. There's a bit of information about the distillery and a brief description of the flavour, which they say is "pungent and potent" and that it has "richly peaty, deep, smoky flavours." They describe the finish as "ambrosial" which apparently means fit for the gods. They're giving me very high expectations so far.
The gold writing on the front of the box features the Lagavulin slogan:
"Time", say the islanders, TAKES OUT THE FIRE but LEAVES IN THE WARMTH
It's nice as slogans go, but has a bit of a ferrero rocher feel to it. I don't mean deeply disappointing (which I sometimes do when I say something's a bit ferrero rocher) but it's the kind of slogan used in adverts at the time of the ferrero rocher advert I linked to in one of the other reviews. Unless I didn't, I can't remember now.
It's exactly the kind of packaging that I find most appealing. It's not Celtic style, it's not Lord of the Rings style, but it's posh in an Olivander kind of way. The bottle's nice too, although the coloured glass suggests a light coloured but full bodied whisky, since the reason for coloured glass is often to disguise the light colour of a whisky. However the whisky is actually fairly dark, but that's for the next section.
Smell in the Bottle
Opening - Gentle smoke, old style furniture or floor polish, wood, kind of wood resin.
Later (a couple of months later) - Gentle smoke like your clothes after sitting round a bonfire for an evening, briney, seaweedy. Overall, think bonfire on the beach but a bit more intense.
Appearance
It's a darkish amber with a bit of a copper tone to it. I'd say amber +2. Aging in sherry casks gives a darker colour, but caramel is added. There's no way to know how much of the colour is sherry and how much is caramel, which is verging on frustrating. I'd be quite interested to see it in it's natural state.
My mouth's watering.
Others have called it rich gold, pale amber, dark amber, glittering gold, honey, and young sauternes among other things, but the description of the colour I've most agreed with was "Golden, dark, impressive." Speaking from a purely visual stand point this looks pretty much perfect. Not that I've ever been drinking whisky and thought "This whisky could do with being a shade lighter in the amber spectrum." or anything like that. Looks good though doesn't it? Why not take a few moments to gaze at the glass in the picture and imagine the volatile delights within.
Done? Good.
Neat
Nose - Gently smokey, briney, iodine (not quite seaweed but almost), some fruit (not quite peach but almost, kind of like when girl's deodorant smells a bit peachy but not like a real peach), kind of a musty smell like mealworms (at first I would have said it was probably from the feints as it's kind of in that category of smells, but I read that you can get a musty smell imparted to the whisky from the cloth used to seal the bung, which is imaginatively called the bung cloth), beech chips, water snake crap (musty, touch of amonia and iodine, very slightly fishy), exotic pet shop smell (very similar to snake crap but not the same), a faint medicinal smell appears when it's been in the glass for a while, boiled sweets (possibly vanilla flavoured ones), something generally sweet smelling
Arrival - Dry smoke, sweet, salty
Development - Initial smokey hit fades quite quickly, angelica appears with fresh herbs (maybe parsley), peat like you get in a bag from the garden center, that musty meal worm box smell (dry wheat bran with a bit of oatmeal and a lot of mealworms),
Finish - Not as complex as it could be, but has a nice long aftertaste. The smoke comes back with some minerally and rainy notes
Water - 1 tsp
Nose - slightly nutty, musty mealworms smell changes (on one tasting I found it more prominent, on another I found it was diminished and I'd love to know why), a complex dry earth kind of smell, something like General snus (a scandinavian tobacco product with a bit of salt and smoke flavouring added), a bit medicinal but in a more earthy way than Laphroaig which is very first aid kit, a kind of vanilla like floral note, heather, faint orange, spices (turmeric I think), sultana, coconut, rain, fruity sherry, dark dried fruit that's not quite raisins, after quite a long time developing with the water there's a wonderful dark brown sugar scent coming through
Arrival - Dry and smoky with a bit of sweetness, salty, deep dried fruit, a hint of aniseed or carroway
Development - dry, when it'd had some time with the water I got bitter marmalade developing, spices, maybe coconut milk, kind of an old chocolate taste like when it's gone white
Finish - The smoke comes back in the aftertaste, tannin type dryness, woody, old chocolate lingering a bit, touch of vanilla, bit of tobacco, slightly bitter herby taste (maybe parsley), again not as complex as it could have been
A few more comments
I really enjoyed this whisky. I've almost bought a bottle of it many times but always opted for Laphroaig or Ardbeg instead. I remember having a glass of it in a country pub from a bottle that was almost empty. I remember that one being a bit disappointing and wondering if it was watered down, but knowing what I know now I would say it was just the last drop in a very old bottle. This kind of whisky makes me want a leather wingback chair like this one.
I want one
It's not as powerfully smokey as Laphroaig or Ardbeg, but it's got quite a lot going on and has a wonderfully brooding character and nice thick oily mouthfeel. If I had a chair like the one above I'd sit in it with a glass of Laphroaig and stare into a log fire on a stormy night. The phenol count is between 35 and 40 parts per million. Laphroaig has around 40-43 and Ardbeg around 55, so you can see it's not as phenolic, but like I said it still has a lot going on.
I suspect Lagavulin use a relatively late cut. The musty, tea and tobacco type flavours indicate the beginning of the feints, but they don't go too far and the feinty type flavours are not too prominent. There was an interesting musty smell throughout the dram, which I put down to either the late cut or a bung cloth having too much influence. Given Diageo's persuit of consistent products I'd be more willing to believe it's from the late cut rather than a bung cloth being allowed to taint a whole batch.
Conclusion
I think this is a whisky to take time over, but then most are. It's deliciously brooding and smokey, with briney notes, dried fruit, and odd musty things you can't quite put your finger on. Perfect for a night in alone. Try to take a bottle of this to a party and it would tell you to grow up. Very much a drink for adults. Adults who don't like parties. Of course, that's very subjective. I just really enjoyed it, from the packaging to the colour, to the smell and the flavour. It could score higher without the chill filtration and the caramel because then it would have a more complex flavour profile and complexity is what it's all about for me. I'd love to have a go at the 12 year old cask strength expression. Would I buy it again? Absolutely! Loved it. I'd buy a bottle tomorrow if I didn't already have several unopened bottles of whisky queuing up for review.
On the standard one to ten scale (one being awful and 10 being awesome) I'd say this is flippin' marvelous. A wintery type dram, but as I'm sure you've heard, Winter is coming.
Next up will be Glen Kinchie. Hopefully you won't have to wait so long this time. Also on the way after the classic malts is Aberlour A'Bunadh batch 47 and Longrow 10 year old. I hope you're looking forward to those as much as I am.
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