Lagavulin 8

Lagavulin 8, 200th Anniversary bottling (abv 48%)

Anniversary bottlings are usually old, very old. Stock taken from the first batch ever matured, something that is representative of all that's good and great about the distillery, and the whole works. So, when Lagavulin released an 8 year old as their anniversary bottling, my eyebrows were raised. That's awfully young, and reflects a great confidence in the quality of the spirit by the guys at the distillery (and Diageo).

The story goes that some time ago, some famous person tried an exceptionally fine 8 year whisky from the distillery. So they're taking inspiration from that, and bottling this at 8 years of age.

I'm a fan of the distillery, and I was quite excited to try this. PY got a bottle of it, and was generous enough to bring it to our tasting session last night for AM and I to get a sip. Here's my impression of it.

Colour: Pale. Pale white wine. Beautiful colour for a young whisky. No fireworks done using casks that impart a darker colour, so I'm expecting something very spirit driven.

Nose: Sharp and smoky. This isn't peaty or deep like the 16, but much fresher. Fresh, cutting lemons, smoke, a little bit of pepper and spice, more smoke and citrus. Some smoked meat as well.

Palate: Big smoke. I like how this smoke is very clean, like tobacco without all the nicotine and other dirty stuff. Clean smoke from good wood or tobacco. Lemons again, maybe more lemon peel or orange peel. The sour-ness still cuts, but is balanced out by sweetness of the malt/barley. This is top-notch distillate allowed to shine in its own right, without any obvious wood characteristics, except for perhaps a thin layer of wood tannins.

Finish: Charred wood, phenolic and slight taste of burnt veggies - the peat finally makes itself felt at the end. How polite. Dominant notes are still of smoke and some wood tannins. Fairly long and warming.

Overall: I really like this. If it were available at DFS, I would have bought one. But alas. Great stuff, must buy if still available at a non-ridiculous price. I think this squeezes into the Hall of Fame!

Thanks PY!