Nose: Darjeeling tea, a waft of oolong tea, white grapes, a tinge of vanilla, sea breeze and campfire smoke in the distance. The nose is unbelievably tight when neat (I barely got anything at first) but a small dash of water makes it blossom. It also needs time to recompose after reduction and I was glad to have a sample to taste at leisure after the post-tour tasting. 85/100 Palate: The arrival is gently fruity (white grapes, gooseberries) and smoky with an excellent balance between brine and sweet flavours. Initially there are no hot spice notes, and very little alcohol heat either considering this is 56.1% abv. The smoke increases in the development but the palate remains very light until water is added. Doing so develops ginger and white pepper but these spices do not overtake the initial profile, instead they provide balance. This is a very poised and assured palate and the texture is creamy. 87/100 Finish: Medium. Peat smoke, white fruits, white grapes and a touch of brine. The aftertaste is crisply fruity with lingering light smoke. 86/100 This is a gentle, elegant but almost fragile Lagavulin with an unusually light dryness of character. It reminded me of a yeasty, crisp, dry white wine. It was matured for 10 years in first fill bourbon, then lay for 4 years in old oak puncheons before receiving a few months of aging in South African cabernet sauvignon wine casks. This final part of the wood management is the most interesting because I would have bet anything that this was matured in sauvignon blanc casks. The nose and palate both scream “white wine” yet the containers in question formerly held a red. Maybe it was the short span of time that the spirit inhabited these casks, or maybe the wine in question had been particularly fruity and dry. Who knows? I thought this was a delightful whisky and I was torn between choosing it or the 2022 Distillers Edition as my favourite from the post-tour tasting, so I’m rating them the same. You can still buy this from the distillery door for £240 but otherwise you would need to find it on the secondaries. Given the absurd price you would probably have to pay there it’s hard to recommend this to anyone but a Lagavulin aficionado even though it’s a very good whisky. Tasted at Lagavulin Distillery as the last dram of a post-tour flight, 17th April, 2025 “Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)