Lagavulin 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml) - Travel Exclusive

"extremely impressive, and especially for the price... The whole thing screams charm, confidence and charisma!" - whiskyfun.com

Lagavulin have released several odd age statements including a nine and an eleven year old. This one debuted in mid 2019 at Fèis Ìle (the Islay Festival of Music and Malt) and was subsequently exclusive to travel retail. Matured in x-Bourbon and freshly-charred casks, the former add sweetness while the rejuvenated (STR) casks add spicy, woody notes. Like Caol Ila, youth is a good thing when it comes to Lagavulin. The style here is closer to the cask strength 12 year old than the standard 16, showing a similar 'mineral' dryness. Powerful aromas of seashore, kelp, a little iodine, baked citrus, oatmeal, light vanilla sweetness, cured meats and white pepper follow through with the kind of complexity and length you associate with this distillery: Fresh, peppery and unmistakably maritime, finishing with a dash of creamy vanilla before the aftertaste turns austere and minerally with lingering smoke. Classic, and with decent intensity at 43%. If you follow Islay, it would be be silly to skip it.

Other reviews... A rather cool and, on paper, legitimately good value bottling that seems to have just flown under the radar in recent years. Colour: gold. Nose: feels like a younger version of the 16yo, in a very good way and in a way that, for example, the 8yo does not. Lovely fat peat, dried seaweed, soot and earthy and rooty medicinal notes, a little seawater and a little hessian. Very smart! Mouth: excellent! Jammy, sweet, oily peat, tar extracts, seawater, iodine, sooty smoke, more tar and more of these hessian cloth notes. I also find some cured meats and various notes of herbs, ointments and salty liquorice. In some ways it is also even reminiscent of some old 12 year old Lagas at 43%, which is no mean feat! Finish: good length, very peaty, sooty, salty, tarry and earthy - terrific! Comments: extremely impressive, and especially for the price. I don't do bang for your buck bottles each month on WF, but this would almost certainly qualify. There is something charmingly old school in the use of 43% here, which works extremely well. The whole thing screams charm, confidence and charisma! 88 points - whiskyfun.com

Notes from distillery... Backed by an elusive softly fruity tang of bruised pears or mature white wine the top notes are naturally powerfully peaty and fresh-clean, with peat smoke, wood tar and antiseptic cream. Maritime hints that seem to emerge from within them suggest a walk on the beach in a fresh, salty sea breeze, with wafts of sweet seaweed and hemp rope. A drop of water suppresses the fruity notes and introduces the clean, fresh aromas of a mineral oil or a salt water rock pool. Spicy, smoky, warming and drying, with a deep intensity. There’s a pleasingly smoky aftertaste with a warming spiciness, which is calmed by the addition of water.