ABV: 48 %
Origin: Islay
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 1
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: Very ashy, warm and sweet. There are big honey, vanilla and butterscotch flavours and the oak is surrounding its sweet heart. There’s a salty, seaweed, ocean note coming through from the distillate. A hint of lemon is the only fruity contribution. There’s also a fresh minty breeze. It has some fresh youthness to it, but not in a harsh way. It complements the ashy notes and makes it pop from the glass.

Mouth: It’s honey sweet and spicy. The peat still shows up as ashes, but not as dry as on the nose. The lemon finds a friend in some green apples. It’s still salty. There’s some vanilla cream in the background. It’s very viscous and oily.

Finish: First comes a big spicy burst before it switches to ashy and sweet again. There’s a savory bacon note coming along with the salty notes. The cask influence is strong but the oak is laid back, It’s not dry nor astringent. The honey, vanilla and butterscotch show up, stay a while and then fade away to give room to the ashy peat, which stays long after everything else. It’s a very pleasant finish.

Additional information
This was a special release in 2016. It has since then been added to the core range. It’s aged in refill american ex-bourbon oak barrels. The release is an homage to a statement from journalist Alfred Barnard in the 1880’s, referring to an 8 YO Lagavulin as ”exceptionally fine”.