Review by: ZoidbergOnTheRocks
Two young Lagavulin to mix things up a bit. In general I’m a fan of young Islays, and I was really happy to see Lagavulin make the 8 an annual release. I can’t honestly say that I remember how the GoT bottle stacks up, so let’s find out.
Tasted on 11/7/2020, neat in a Glencairn.
Lagavulin 8 Year 200th Anniversary
This is the first 8 year old Lagavulin bottled for their 200th anniversary in 2016. At 48% ABV it’s a big departure from their standard 16yr bottle, and a welcome change. No info on coloring or filtering, but given how light it is I’d like to think there’s not coloring, though I suspect it’s chill filtered. After this anniversary bottling was such a hit they decided to make it a standard offering, and I’d say the entire brand is better for it.
Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 48.0%
Age: 8 years old. Bottled on 08/30/2016.
Cask type: Refill American Oak Casks
One of 20,000 bottles.
Nose: wood smoke, lots of peat, sweet, seaweed, iodine, bandages, orange, machine oil, liquorice, almond, malt. Over time the peat grows bigger; excellent.
Taste: smoke, ash, orange, salty, seaweed, mild pepper, oil, medium-thin mouthfeel, a bit medicinal, oak, nuts (more walnuts than the almonds I thought from the nose), some cinnamon builds.
Finish: a nice pop of ashy smoke, peat, salt, seawater, young malt, pepper, some nice orange sweetness, longer than expected (medium-ish), a touch of oaky bitterness on the end.
This is a young, smoky, coastal dram that is a real treat. The smoke in this is excellent, good peat flavor, nice sea and medicinal notes, with some malty and orangey sweetness thrown in. Nice touches of oil and oak on the palate. The finish ends just a touch bitter and every time I try this I hope for a thicker mouthfeel that just isn’t there. Overall an excellent young Lagavulin. Glad I bought multiple bottles in 2016.
Final Score: 87.
Lagavulin 9 Year Game of Thrones
This is a 9 year old Lagavluin bottled for the Game of Thrones final season, in a limited edition series with all the other Diageo distilleries. Bottle at 46% ABV, colored and filtered.
I was a fan of the show until it crashed harder than Viserion in the final season, and I’d say that overall Diageo’s GoT marketing gimmick fits right in with that theme. Yea, there’s some novel ages and ABV’s there, and some nice packaging, but overall I’ve been underwhelmed with everything I’ve tasted from the series with the best of them being simply average. And some of them were just awful.
Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 46.0%
Age: 9 years old. Bottled in 2018.
Nose: perfume, oak, wood dust, very light smoke, bandaids, green apples, sea spray, hot, cinnamon, pepper, burnt rubber.
Taste: oak, lots of pepper, vanilla, ash, smoke, apple, salt, quite hot for its ABV, thin.
Finish: ashy smoke, bitter oak, big black pepper, vanilla, green apple, salty, burnt rubber, short-to-medium with lingering bitter/burnt notes.
This is a shame. It’s off character, has an odd perfume scent, lots of oak and green apple, and the things you tend to love about Lagavulin are pushed to the side: the smoke comes late and is more ashy than peaty, and I have to hunt to find the sea and medicinal notes. There’s an undertone of burnt rubber throughout that is off-putting. It’s quite hot all around for its ABV. I actually wish the finish was shorter on this one.
I suspect like many of its sister bottlings in the GoT series this was quite rushed and they used a bunch of casks they were probably happy to get rid of.
There are a lot of excellent Lagavulins out there. No reason to waste your time on this one. Tasting it again reminds why there was only one dram gone from the bottle when I pulled it out today. I recall tasting this at more than one scotch gathering, and each time it made me sad I’d bought a bottle.
Final Score: 72.
Comparison
Order: 8 > 9
No contest. One of these is an excellent young Lagavulin that belongs in any Islay enthusiasts collection, the other is the victim of a marketing gimmick.
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 