This Lagavulin is exclusively available at the distillery for the moment. It’s a cask strength bottling without an age statement. It was extra matured in sherry seasoned American oak casks (i.e. casks that were simply treated with sherry for a short time – the sherry didn’t actually mature in them).
Some of the casks that were used, had been intented for bottling as a Distillers Edition, but they were found to be too good to be blended in such a large batch.
Lagavulin NAS ‘only available at the distillery’ (52,5%, OB 2010, 6000 btl.)
Nose: close to the Distillers Edition. Definitely sweeter than a regular 16yo but my DE is still sweeter. Like a peated apple juice, or peach syrup served in an ashtray. A very nice profile. Brown sugar. Lovely butter biscuits. Quite tarry. Some coal and liquorice. Seaweed. Mouth: quite sweet again. Creamy chocolate coating. Some coffee. Plums. Vanilla. After a while the peat and soot take over and the whole gets drier with hints of lapsang tea and tobacco. Mouth: long and smoky with a spicy edge.
I love the Lagavulin DE style, with its combination of peat and PX sherry. At cask strength, this combo is even more expressive. Round, sweet and balanced. Around € 85.
Score: 90/100
This blog is my personal collection of impressions, written while searching for the ultimate single malt whisky.
