Lagavulin vs itself
Standing in front of my whisky shelf I realize I have more Lagavulin open than any other distillery.
5 open bottles vs 2 for Laphroaig, 2 Mortlach, 2 Clynelish, 2 Talisker.
What’s a man to do for fun then. Drink all 5? Yeh why not, I have heard it to be recommended as educational, so worth a shot. No?
Ok just 4, I left the Ileach out.
Lagavulin 16 vs LG1 vs Lagavulin 12 (2011) vs Lagavulin DE
Simple fun stuff no serious notes here.
Unsurprisingly, the DE had the richest colour, followed by the 16. Well they’re sherried so that’s expected. The palest here was the 12 yo.
Nose: The good old 16 had the best peat-smoke-coastal-sweetness balance still, meaning it was sweet but its sweetness underlined rather than competed with the peat and the sea. Shows how fine a whisky it is. The DE was at first nosing so much more sherried, that it even blocked out the peat a bit initially. Given some time the aniseed, menthol and tea flavours came out. Quite nice in its style, if that’s your kind of thing.
The LG1 was a real bruiser, smacking you hard with tar and oil and earthy aromas, bit lacking in complexity, but it truly wears its ‘Islay-ness’ proudly. The 12 was the gentle one here – not austere by any measure but wow did it look thin next to the 16 even. The 12 had flinty, wet wool, more coastal, more salt and kippers, high fruit notes, and even the smoke took a bit of a backward step here.
Palette:Things played out as expected. Here the strength of the 12 really helped, though I cant help but feel – with a bit more herbs and grass, a bit less peat, I could very well mistake it for a high strength Caol Ila. And the DE had a surprise, being much more complex on the tongue than the nose would suggest, nice mix of fruit juice, menthol, really chased by the peat and smoke etc. It seems really determined not to let anyone forget its origins at the end of the day.
This was fun! Maybe I should collect a few friends and do this more often…
Whiskyrific RSS
- Benriach 33 yo 1977 / 2011 #9119 45.7% for Asta Morris vs Benriach 35 yo 1976 / 2012 #8804 54.9%
- Lagavulin Distiller’s Edition 1994 / 2010 lgv.4/498 43% vs Lagavulin Friends of the Classic Malts 12 yo 1995 / 2008 48%
- Glen Grant 27 yo 1955 / 1982 Samaroli 43% vs Glenury Royal 24 yo 1966 / 1990 Cadenhead 53.8%
- Lochside 22 yo 1979 / 2001 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 276 bttls 50% vs Lochside 32 yo 1982 / 2014 Malts of Scotland #14019 55.2% vs Lochside 29 yo 1981 / 2010 Thosop 50.5%
- St Magdalene 25 yo 1964 / 1989 Cadenhead 44.2% vs St Magdalene 23 yo 1970 Rare Malts 58.43%
- Caol Ila 15 yo Sestante for Novecento 64.7% vs Caol Ila 15 yo Sestante 65.3%
- Glen Garioch 25 yo 1990 / 2017 LMdW ‘Artist #7’ Cask #2694 52.3% vs Glen Garioch 1968 29 yo 1968 #625 57.2%
- Clynelish 90 yo 1972 / 2002 Scotch Malt Sales 58% vs Clynelish 23 yo 1974 / 1998 Rare Malts 59.1%
- Scapa 12 yo 40% ~2000 vs Scapa 8 yo Gordon & Macphail 57% ~ late 80s
- Bruichladdich 21 yo 1992 / 2014 Duncan Taylor #3987 49.7% vs Bruichladdich 22 yo 1991 / 2014 Gleann Mor #2270 55.9%
