Lagavulin 2006 Distillers Edition (Bottled 2021)

Stunning

Le parfum est très iodé, oui, mais bien velouté aussi. La texture est ronde et mène vers un profil fumé et salin mais aussi fruité et sucré, avec un caramel enveloppant, des dattes de type Deglet Nour, etc. Une touche de cendre surgit en arrière plan avec une marmelade d’orange et des bonbon Rockets… Vraiment complexe et fascinant!

Lagavulin 16 has been my favorite Islay single malt whisky for decades. Sure, there are lots of other great scotches, but this just ticked off all the boxes for me: smokey, salty, peat and sweet/sour grain, not overpowering, just the flavor sweet spot. And now this Distillers Edition kicks it up a notch. Distilled 2006, bottled 2021, batch number lgv.4/510, 43% ABV, $110 (15 bucks more than the Lag16 here in Utah). Double-matured in ex-bodega Pedro Ximenez sherry cask wood. Nose is sweet raisins and malt, with a wiff of smoke. Sherry, raisins, and oak tannins, malted grain and salt in the mouth. A little ethanol burst. Color is a little rosier than the 16, but not far off. Average legs coating the glass. The finish is smoke, oak, and light peat, sweet but a spicy finish lingers, leaving a tingle softened by sweet fruit. I'm a fan of port and sherry casked whisk[e]y. I find them round and sometimes more interesting in adding another flavor profile to grain and vanilla oak--their fruit forward quality. This is one of those, well worth the modest cost bump from the regular 16 year whisky. A new top shelf favorite.

After trying both Lagavulin 16 and 8 and not feeling it (something in the aftertaste that I don’t agree with) I thought I would give the Distillers Edirion a go. The PX sherry influence just puts this in the sweet spot (no pun intended). The smoke is there but a bit subdued by the sweetness of the PX, the nose is so interesting that you can sit and smell this for a long time. Sweet and smokey in the mouth with tounge tingeling spice coming in at the end. Aftertaste is quite long and very pleasant.