Lagavulin Distillers Edition

Batch 4/505. Friend brought home from Scotland. Starts with a hint of sweetness, then raisin, moderate peat and smoke, a hint of tobacco, then finishes with a light mustiness imparted by the sherry casks. Very smooth. Haven't had the regular 16yr to compare with, but this is a treat.

Damn fine drop. It retails here in NZ around the $100 USD mark a 50% mark up to the Laga 16. I opened it a few months ago and put it head to head against the 16. I like them both equally I think. The richness and sweetness of the PX adds another nice dimension. I made the mistake of bringing it along with the Ledaig 10 and Ardbeg 10 to a whiskey tasting session I was running a few weeks ago. The two 10 year olds weren't really touched. This bottle however got destroyed in next to no time. I managed to salvage a miserly 1/4 of the bottle which I am now slowly eaking out :-) Update: Still a nice dram but the latest ones haven't hit the mark as well. Not sure if my palate or changing quality.

Upon the first pour I got immediately excited. “This can’t be!” The appearance struck me as more voluptuous than its kindred spirit and my favorite, Lagavulin 16. I’m immediately forced to do a side-by-side, commandeering a reluctant wife from her peace to act as a second witness. Although I don’t see it, she claims the Distillers Edition to be a tiny gradation darker and richer looking. I’m convinced she’s probably right, but who cares, I’m blinded by passion and need to move to the next phase of intimacy. Crooning with delight on the first sniff, my wife looks on with a familiar expression of disbelief. She realizes there‘s no saving me and best wait till Dr. Jekyll regains his sanity. Departing, she leaves me to wallow in my own machinations of sublimity. On the nose the peat is muted and the winey elegance of the PX inspiration sings to me like the Sistine Chapel Choir. This is no matter for peat lovers, for there is a time, place, and mood for everything and right now I’m standing in a musty wine cellar in southern Spain and supposed origin of the Pedro Ximenez grape. After the first sip everything becomes perfectly clear; this spirit combines the skilled artistry of a master distiller along with the helping hand of divine providence; a masterpiece perfected in 16 years of maturation. With respect to whisky, this is why Islay is my Holy Land and Lagavulin is my Jerusalem! :)