Moscatel is one of the key wines of Andalusia. Just like in the sherry region, Málaga also uses Pedro Ximénez and Muscat grapes to create sweet wines. While PX is more common to Jerez, Málaga is well known for its Moscatel.
These Moscatel casks were used by Lagavulin to finish its Feis Ile 2025 bottling, a 15 year old whisky. I believe the last Feis Ile release we tried from them was the 2021 Port cask finish.
Lagavulin 15 yo (55,7%, OB for Feis Ile 2025, Moscatel finish, 1596 btl.)
Nose: a candied peach / apricot kind of sweetness, uncommon but okay. Muscat indeed. Fruit cake. After that we find more classic notes of burnt herbs, brine and iodine, with slightly raw, clean peat smoke. Light industrial notes, tobacco leaves and white pepper.
Mouth: sweet and peppery, doo weight. Still a bit of a synthetic / unexpected fruity note (melon / peach) that doesn’t feel entirely right for Lagavulin. Hints of burnt rhubarb. Then leafy smoke, heavily charred oak, soot, orange zest and more black pepper. This develops into ginger and chilli.
Finish: long and dry, with walnuts, dark chocolate and big spicy notes.
This isn’t a classic Lagavulin. Some parts are nice, others leave a ‘not sure’ impression. The fruitiness feels a little unbalanced to me, and overall it doesn’t have the relative elegance of the 16 Year Old. The price was quite steep as well (£ 240), so I understand people are complaining about the value for money. Still available from Whiskysite.nl where I also got a sample.