Review by: ZoidbergOnTheRocks
Lagavulin has put out a Distillery Edition every year since 1997. The vast majority of them are 16yrs, but some of the early ones were older. The point of the entire series is that it’s basically their standard 16yr malt with an extra (unspecified) maturation period in Pedro Ximenez casks. I suppose opinions vary, but I’m firmly in the camp that PX works beautifully with Lagavulin, so in general these DE’s were pretty darn good.
Now, that said, I don’t actually own a current bottling of this. I’ve had a number of them bottled since 2015 or so, and they haven’t been as good as the older ones, and none of them have motivated me to actually buy a recent bottle. I’ve felt pretty let down by them, so I stopped buying. I’m guessing the change is due to a lack of good sherry casks so my optimism is low for the future. I suppose I should suck it up and get the current release to see if there’s any redemption there. Maybe next year.
Sadly they’re all bottled at 43%, chill filtered, and colored. I’m not gonna get all angry and cry about it, but take a moment to imagine what these could be like.
Anyway, here’s three old ones to consider. Tasted on 10/27/2020, each neat in a Glencairn.
Lagavulin Distillers Edition 1980
Distilled in 1980 and bottled in 1999, making this one a surprising 19 years old. Bottled at a rather sorry 43% ABV, chill filtered and colored. This is a 70cl bottle for the UK market. Finished in PX sherry casks for an unspecified period of time.
Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 43.0%
Age: NAS. Distilled in 1980. Bottled in 1999.
Cask type: Double matured in Pedro Ximenez Sherry Wood
Nose: earthy peat smoke, orange, seaweed, brine, ginger, liquorice, tar, hemp rope, slightly medicinal, wet leaves, camphor, a bit of tangerine, leather, a bit of furniture polish that faded the longer it sat in the glass, a bit of chocolate. The empty glass is smoked chocolate dried orange.
Taste: earthy peat, ash, orange rind, seawater, salted black liquorice, tar, surprisingly medium mouthfeel, a touch of chocolate covered toffee.
Finish: rich peat smoke, mild pepper, orange rind, seawater, a touch of fruit cake, a bit of toffee, medium-to-long finish, fades fairly consistently.
This is a rich dram with earthy peat smoke, bitter orange, and plenty of coastal/sea notes. It’s not as complex as the 1991, but it’s big and in your face. Punchy for a 19yr. I would also say it’s the brightest of the three. Delicious.
Final Score: 90.
Lagavulin Distillers Edition 1990
Distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2006 at 43% ABV, chill filtered and colored. This is a 70cl bottle for the UK market. Finished in PX sherry casks for an unspecified period of time.
Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 43.0%
Age: NAS. Distilled in 1990. Bottled in 2006.
Cask type: Double matured in Pedro Ximenez Sherry Wood
Nose: big earthy peat smoke, soot, coal, bitter orange, seaweed, brine, liquorice, tar, camphor, cocoa, rubber engine belts, chocolate covered toffee. Huge nose only gets bigger the longer it sits. Citrus gets a little brighter after a long, long time, with a hint of lemon.
Taste: peat smoke, liquorice, seawater, orange, ash, rather thin mouthfeel, dry, more pepper builds, dark toffee, tar, rubber, dark chocolate.
Finish: big pop of earthy peat smoke, ash, orange, surprisingly dry, seawater, pepper, disappointingly short and fading with very mild pepper, peat smoke, and salty bitter orange.
This has a distinct soot/coal/sulphur note to it throughout that is not unpleasant at all, just notable and different from the other two. This is a big punch of peat smoke, soot, ash, bitter orange, and seawater, with a bunch of other notes layered below that. Balance could be much better. It’s surprisingly dry on the palate, which is fine, but the finish is disappointingly short.
Final Score: 88.
Lagavulin Distillers Edition 1991
Distilled in 1991 and bottled in 2007 at 43% ABV, chill filtered and colored. This is a 70cl bottle for the UK market. Finished in PX sherry casks for an unspecified period of time.
Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 43.0%
Age: NAS. Distilled in 1991. Bottled on 07/19/2007.
Cask type: Double Matured in Pedro Ximénez Sherry Wood
Nose: rich earthy peat smoke, beach bonfire, seaweed, seawater, liquorice, orange rind, tar, rubber, camphor, figs, oil, fresh tobacco, toffee, fennel, cocoa powder, more seaweed, walnuts. Massive, brilliant, complex nose. Still finding more. Nuts, more cacao, English Christmas pudding. The empty glass adds earthy vegetal notes, fig, red meat.
Taste: big earthy & ashy peat smoke, orange rind, a touch dry, seawater, sea shells, salty black liquorice, tar, dark toffee, rubber, bitter chocolate, medium-ish mouthfeel, later a bit of dried dark stone fruit.
Finish: rich earthy peat, mild ash, bitter orange, seawater, seaweed, black liquorice, a touch of tar and rubber, a bit of toffee, long-ish, a smidge dry, the peat smoke stays with a bit of ash, orange rind, and the salty sea.
Holy hell, this is significantly better than it should be. Superbly complex all around. Balance is beautiful. It’s big and rich with earthy peat, bonfire and ash, big sea notes, bitter orange, liquorice, and a bunch of interesting tar/rubber/oil notes. The longer it sits the more sherry starts to come through. You find something new coming back to it each time. My only real knock on it is its presentation: mouthfeel is too thin, finish ought to be longer. I’d bet someone at the distillery shed a small tear as this was pulled down to 43%.
Of the three, this is the most complex, the most well integrated, and I’d bet it spent a little more time in better sherry casks than the others.
Finally, I’ll be honest: this isn’t my first bottle of this one. I hope it’s not my last, but it is really pricey now. I also know from experience that if you leave just a couple of drams in the bottom of the bottle and forget about it for 5-6 years then that shit’s almost magical.
Final Score: 96.
Comparison
Order: 1991 > 1980 > 1990
All three of these are excellent, and taken together they’re a lot of what I think of when I think about Lagavulin. The ordering isn’t splitting hairs here, though: the 1991 is the clear winner. Balance on the 1980 is better than the 1990, as is the mouthfeel and finish. That said, there’s something I really like about the odd notes in the 1990, but I couldn’t bring myself to mark it any higher than I have. I’d also note that the ratings on the 1980 and 1990 went up the longer I sat with them.
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.
Malt Runners 