It's weird but it's gotten so I only know lagavulin as a CS distillate. From the 12 to the never ending UK only distillery bottles I am lucky enough to try over at Mike's, I'm almost confused with the existence of 46% whisky from them. Nose - Meaty smoky lagavulin with peach and then...I swear it's like an amber beer coming in. Not a Guinness at all to me. The smoke and sweet notes are really coming out of the glass up front but as you dig in, it's really thin behind that. The malt seems really watered down. Taste - Upfront it's just more smoke and peat with some youthful phenolic elements, a bit of bannana, a bit of off the still notes, and then this really sweet and noticeable beer element. It's a big bold and young islay and that's cool, but then we get to the finish. The finish is surprisingly long, surprisingly intense and really leaves you with a great overall lagavulin experience. The last edition really did come off a bit too young imo and I think this bit of a finishing cask has really helped add some elements that both distract and also complement the youth. On top of that, I think they just had better barrels this go round. If you want a big meaty in your face but youthful lagavlin for about 100 bucks, you can't really go too wrong. Nothing special but 2.5 stars, better than I expected and then some.