Lagavulin 8 Yrs Old
48% ABV
$60-$70
Website
What the Distillery Says
This bicentenary limited edition is magnificently full-on in flavour – a celebration of the people and craft that make Lagavulin great.
Nose: Immediately quite soft with clean, fresh notes, faint hints of milk chocolate and lemon and then developing fragrant tea-scented smoke alongside nose-drying, maritime aromas, with subtle cereal. A prickliness seen earlier now develops, while the trademark Lagavulin dryness emerges as fresh newsprint. Softly sooty. Softer, fuller and more rounded with water: it’s not hugely fruity but there’s just a trace of red berry preserve, perhaps, beneath the smokiness, which comes sharply into focus.
Palate: A soothing light texture, with a magnificently full on Lagavulin taste that’s somehow even bigger than you expect; sweet, smoky and warming, with a growing, smoky pungency, then dry, with more smoke. Charred, with minty, dark chocolate. Beautifully balanced midpalate then salty, oven-charred baked potato skins and smoke. Water rounds things, the taste still mighty yet more succulent, sweeter, spicier and now tongue-tingling, mint-fresh and warming.
Finish: Lovely; clean, very long and smoky. Smoothly, subtle minted smoke surrounds chocolate tannins, leaving a late drying note to emerge in time. It’s warming, soft and still smoky with water, not as long or intense now, yet still leaving the palate dry as sweet smoke lingers on the breath.
What Gary Says
Nose: Peat smoke, earthy, musty, light iodine, notes of husky grains.
Palate: Sweet peat, honey with a sharper oak and pepper spice.
Finish: Moderately long, drying with a hint of stout (seriously – Guinness?).
Comments: Compared with Lagavulin 16 yr, the color is much lighter, the nose is less rich, and the palate is sweeter but has less depth. But for being only 8 yrs old, it is surprisingly delicious. Unmistakably Lagavulin. I’m sure the higher proof helps with the comparison (and leaves me dreaming of what 16 or 20 yr old cask strength Lagavulin must be like). Fans of Lagavulin should seek this out if only to experience the whiskey at half the age. I was definitely impressed on that score.