I last reviewed this whisky nearly two years ago. Allow me to set the table (context is everything): tonight is a cool, cloudy, and contemplative Connecticut evening. Earlier I tasted (and reviewed) the Laphroaig 10-Year Sherry Cask Finish. Which led me to taste (and review) the Ardbeg Uigeadail. Which of course logically led me to the Lagavulin Distiller's Edition. Three sherry-finished Islays. I could continue this thread, but discretion being the better part of valor, I promise to conclude once this third review is finished. Dear reader (or is there a second one now?): I've twice rated this whisky 4.5 on the Distiller scale, and (spoiler alert) I see no reason to deviate from that decision. The Lag DE is more refined than the medicinal and kaleidoscopic Laphroaig and the nearly psychedelic Uigeadail. It's not as if the sweet merely joined the peat (Laphroaig) or turbocharged it (Ardbeg) but rather tamed it, or reacted with it and created something new, somehow coalescing into a cohesive whole that is distinct from the others. There is bacon fat and butterscotch; cigar and caramel; scallion and saline; vinegar and vineyards. It is light and ethereal in comparison to the other two. Would I buy it again? As long as I have two pennies to rub together. 4.5 on the Distiler scale.