Lagavulin 12 Year Old

Lagavulin 12 Year Old Once again, Diageo has released a marvellous 12 year old Lagavulin single malt as part of its Special Releases series. The 2020 Special Releases Lagavulin 12 Year Old was aged in refill American oak casks, and packs plenty of smoky notes, though there\’s also a good helping of boiled sweetie and sweet spices in there too.

Diageo Group is a relatively young company – it was created in 1997 as a result of the merger of the Grand Metropolitan Public Limited Company and Guinness PLC. Today it is one of the largest concerns in the world for the production and sale of alcoholic beverages.

Lagavulin 12 Year Old tasting Notes

Nose: A gently ashy Lagavulin expression, bolstered by pear drop boiled sweets, an odine brine, orange oil and and a grassiness. Wafts of smoke become more prominent with time in the glass and a drop of water.

Palate: A medium-weight dram, on the palate the expression is sweeter than you\’d expect from the nose, and the smoke is more pronounced, too. The pear becomes fresher and the orange more zesty, along with a gentle earthiness.

Finish: Medium-long and drying, with waft after waft of that seaside smoke.

Overall: Lagavulin with a delectable twist!

• The colour is pale gold and the nose is very shy first (for a Lagavulin). But after some breathing it nicely opens up and offers a clean and \”stripped-off any non-spirit effects\”. Lagavulin profile which is great if you like this. All others might find this (possibly) unimpressive but they should add some water to unleash the beast! Hey, are you now satisfied? I am! The maritime-medicinal peaty aromas are flabbergasting, the malt provides a fine sweet backing and the wood structures everything in a perfect way. This nose cries for water and rewards it accordingly.

• Taste

  Oooh – this taste reminds me of my beloved 12-years old Lagavulin from 1988 (WB id 4437) that I scored 94 points. It is of (almost) equal quality – absolutely clean, fresh and very complex for a 12-years old. I do not name all the different flavours here because other members do that better than I but I can assure everybody – this is Lagavulin at its best. A perfect cask selection, Pinky (or whoever did this)!