Lagg | William’s Whisky Database

ABV: 55 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and peaty. At first there’s a vanilla heavy sweetness mixed with a nice vegetal peatiness, iodine and a hint of dry soil. There’s a sourness in the back and some baking spices up front. With time in the glass the sherry notes slowly take over. There’s a hint of chocolate covered raisins, red fresh berries and a hint of tobacco all making the whole a nice solid profile with a nice power to it. This is a great nose with a lot to offer. It’s young and fresh but delivers some depth as well.

Mouth: It starts out with a dry earthy peat and a peppery spicyness from the higher ABV. The palate gets coated with dark flavours like coffee, raisins and tobacco while it still delivers some lemon notes from the back and some iodine rich medicinal peatiness up front. It’s quite rowdy at this point. It’s less sweet than on the nose and it feels very oily and well made. There’s a dampness floating around as well which contributes to the complexity of the whole.

Finish: The finish starts out with the spicyness floating out gently over the palate which creates a very nice effect. First out is the coffee notes with a bitter background note which mixes with lemon sourness. The raisins, the tobacco and the medicinal peat are joined by a dark chocolate note down the line and create a pleasant, but not easy accessible, finish. The oakiness comes fashionably late and brings the dampness with it, even though there’s a fresher character up front. This is a great whisky overall. It’s young and rowdy, yet it’s wearing a nice set of garments.

Additional information
This whisky was first aged in ex-bourbon barrels and then finished in ex-oloroso hogsheads from Spain. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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ABV: 50 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is peaty and sour. At first there’s a hefty, yet slightly brittle, peatiness. Underneath lies a sweet and sour honey and lemon mix. The whole thing feels very clean and well made but it is quite simple and straight forward. There’s vanilla, and an ashy side to the peat is coming through, but not much more than that. When it starts to settle in the glass there’s oakiness slowly emerging around the edges. This is a nice nose which feels decently balanced but it lacks complexity and feels a bit boring.

Mouth: It starts out with a much bigger and powerful character compared to the nose. It’s peppery and quite bitter in the background. In the middle the peatiness feels chewy and unrefined. After a while there’s a return of the vanilla. The oakiness is pushing through strong at this point and the whole comes through as a bit unpleasant. Underneath there’s a hint of the sweet and sour notes and a thin green apple note. There’s a weird undefined note floating around in the back as well.

Finish: The spicyness shifts to become a pepparmint throughout the transition. When it settles the peat once again turns a bit brittle and has no chance against a quite strong oakiness. It feels unbalanced and the lack of age is really shining through here. There are notes of leather and hay, but all in all it’s just the oakiness which is left in the end. It’s a bland oakiness which lacks character. This is a good inaugural release which shows some promise going forward. But this as a standalone whisky is not the best thing in the world.

Additional information
This whisky is the first release from Arran’s new distillery. It was aged in ex-bourbon barrels. The PPM value is 50. 10 000 bottles was released. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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