Review by: dustbunna

Lagavulin 12 is the sole seemingly invariant Diageo Special Release left– it comes out year after year and is pretty consistently lauded, and it’s nice to have at least one relatively findable cask-strength Laga (without color or chill-filtration, to boot.) 2017’s release made a bigger splash online than usual, and especially after having such good experiences with the 8yr, I kept an eye out for it. The store where I found this had one bottle each of ‘16 through ‘18 in stock– it’s pricey in the States, and I could afford to buy one and only one, so I got this vintage. They were all gone within a few weeks. Like the 8yr, this is Lagavulin’s distillate on full display, matured entirely in ex-bourbon casks (with a higher proportion of refill casks.)

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Distillery: Lagavulin. 

Bottler: Distillery bottling.

Region: Islay.

ABV: 56.5%. Cask strength.

Age: 12 years. Bottled in 2017.

Cask type: Refill ex-bourbon casks.

Price: $140 USD.

Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

Bottle open across approx. 10 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point, italicized notes taken towards the heel.

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Nose: gentle lemon, light smoke, custard, seaweed, driftwood, sweet roasted almonds/marzipan, poppyseed muffins, smoked vanilla gelato, a little bit of grapes, lemon verbena, light machine oil.

Palate: velvety and full-bodied ~ starts soft and builds in intensity arriving at white pepper, ashy peat smoke, icing sugar, a soda-like fizz, more white grapes and ash, salt and more driftwood, lemon jam, lemon cleaning fluid, liquorice tea.

Finish: ages ~ warm, gentle campfire smoke, iodine and mint commingled, smoked fish, the lemony pastry notes begin to poke through, bitter herbs, more toasted almonds, touches of roses and sweet mint in the background.

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Conclusion: Started out quiet and unfolded wonderfully as the fill level dropped, as so many whiskies do in my experience. What makes this one a real joy to drink, though, is its abundance of addictive textures– on a good day, it dances on the tongue with a mouth-coating experience that’s somehow fizzy, velvety, and creamy all at the same time. The palate also 100% delivers on what the nose promises. Poppyseed muffins… damn, finding that in whisky is such a treat, amidst a total harmony of flavors conjuring up memories of beach walks and campfires in the Pacific Northwest.

As of the time of this writing, this is the best bottle I have gotten my hands on from Islay, and in competition for one of my best whisky experiences so far. However, I’m not hunting for another one to squirrel away. Many times this past year, I have tasted this side-by-side with both the core range Lagavulin 8yr and the 2016 200th Anniversary 8yr– as I noted a couple of reviews ago, their profiles are very similar, and with time open, the 200th Anniversary bottle gets really close to the 12CS, more than I wanted to admit. The clarity and secondary notes in the 12CS maybe put it a step or two above; in direct comparison, the 8yr is slightly more harsh on the finish, and lacks some of the nutty and fizzy qualities that give the 12CS extra dimension. But that’s really nit-picking; it was eye-opening to have my partner pour the 8yr blind in a regular Glencairn recently, and to realize my palate wasn’t good enough to tell the two apart that way. So I’ll keep an eye out for other interesting distillate-forward Lagavulin, and in the meantime have put away some samples of this one for the next time I visit the Oregon coast (and smiling at that thought.)

Final Score: 92.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.