- $120
- 86 Proof
- 15 Years
- Batch No. 4/509
- Islay
I do love sweet and peat! And by that I mean that I love peated Scotches finished in wine casks, especially fortified wine casks like sherry or port. That sweet and peat is a combination that I just can't get enough of. So, I find that I grab just about anything Lagavulin that has spent time in such casks, and this bottle was no exception.
This bottling consists of a small number of casks that were double-matured in "specially crafted Pedro Ximenez Cask-Wood." I wish I could tell you what that means. The wording seems very careful -- "cask-wood." I don't know what, exactly, that is. Perhaps re-purposes PX casks? How was the "cask-wood" "specially crafted"? I thought about doing some independent research into the backstory here, but instead I just cracked the bottle open to see if this "cask-wood" maturation, whatever that is, made for good whisky.
The smoke that I'd expect from a Lagavulin was fairly light on the nose. I don't know if that's due to the 15 years of maturation or the low proof or both.. But this was not significantly smoky smelling. That's not a terrible thing, however, as it allowed other notes to really shine, like a bright and sweet raspberry note, accompanied by honey and something herbal, like dill or sage. Though not "peaty," it still had a lot of good stuff going on.
As to flavor, this was definitely more on the fruity end of the spectrum. It was kind of like a burst of strawberry followed immediately by a black pepper spice and peat smoke. It did have a bit of a iodine lean to it, particularly as the other flavors subsided a bit. But, it certainly remained fruit-forward, with the notes of strawberry and raspberry taking center stage.
The herbal note really came through as well, which was a bit unexpected. Those dill and sage notes added an interesting quality. I chose the word "interesting" deliberately, because even after getting through the whole bottle, I'm still not sure how much I enjoyed it. At times it was good, adding another layer, almost like seasoning. Other times it came across as mossy or incense-like, and was a bit of a turnoff. It may have just depended on my mood that day.
That herbal note carried over to the finish, as did the bright raspberry note, and when that all collided on the finish along with the peat, it reminded me a bit of raspberry bitters. Again, I wasn't sure how much I liked it, though it was interesting.
All in all, I really wanted to like this bottle. By and large it was great, but I kept finding those weird little nuances that just seemed to keep giving me moments of pause, trying to figure out what I was tasting and whether or not it was something I enjoyed or not.
Grade: B