Lagavulin Offerman Edition Caribbean Rum Cask Finish

Rum is pretty much non existent but plenty tasty nonetheless

Lagavulin 11 year old, Offerman Edition, Caribbean Rum Cask Finish is a limited edition (the 4th edition) peated single malt that spent 8 months being finished in ex-Caribbean rum casks. It is bottled at 46% ABV and sells for around $80-100. Would Nick Offerman, the epic character who he embodies, do this? Would he take a classic Islay spirit matured in good old American oak, and put it into a Caribbean rum cask? I don’t think so. The marketing doesn’t make sense, and the actual whisky doesn’t make sense. Yes, you can taste the rum influence, especially if you have this side by side with the Lagavulin 11 year old, charred oak cask, which is a lovely Lagavulin, superior to the modern 16 year old. Side plug, buy the charred oak cask. This Caribbean rum cask edition has tropical notes in the beginning. There’s tequila, lime, lemon, crème brulee, and perhaps a salt rim from a poor-life-choices margarita. These notes only serve to disturb the poise of a proper Lagavulin that tries to reclaim control towards the end of the palate and throughout the finish, which features honey, vanilla, cigarette ash, and hickory smoked bacon. Poor 11 year old Lagavulin. You could have just been released as is, and instead you were hit in the head with a Caribbean rum cask. They should have called this the concussion edition, or the brain damage edition. This may be what Nick Offerman would try to release after he gets drunk and falls while dancing to Caribbean music after he drank too much of a proper Lagavulin (liked the charred oak cask); and this may be the secret to this whisky. If you’ve drank so much good Islay Scotch that you’re ready to dance, try this flamboyant expression. Or don’t. I recommend that you don’t.