Slainte-Mhath
Lagavulin 25 Year
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
November 5, 2016 (edited August 8, 2018)
I must confess: I had my doubts. Could this 200th-anniversary edition of Lagavulin 25 fulfill the high expectations? With natural cask strength of 51.7% ABV (bottle no. 1573), the nose achieves perfect balance between delicate peatiness and intense but not too dominating sherry cask influence. Cigar smoke, orange peel and dried fruits harmonize with notes of strong tea, cinnamon and dark chocolate. The taste is impressively zesty, rich and peaty dry, leading to a prolonged and bitter spicy finish. A truly superb Islay whisky with a hefty price tag.
RATING: 4.7/5.0 stars ≙ 93 pts → SUPERB [+]
1090.0
EUR
per
Bottle
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Well, no matter how you'll decide: it will be a great birthday!
There are two available bottles of this for ~$1050 locally. Trying to decide for my birthday whether to get this vs. HP 30 for $850 or Brora 37 for $1500.
Pranay, maybe my conscience is telling me that I bought some bottles as investments because I can't fathom opening, drinking and then declaring they were worth the price I paid, lol. If I open them it'll be because of a very special occasion or the thought that after I pass the first knucklehead that raids my liquor cabinet will see my Dalmore 25 and say "this will probably go great with Diet Pepsi". Ugh.
I can't honestly fathom buying these as investments...maybe I missed that class during my MBA. But with that said, I do have several Karuizawas, Hanyus, a Brora, Port Ellen, and Littlemill...all bought a decade ago. They're still unopened...so I guess is that an investment?
@LeeEvolved: Are you reading my mind? I bought this bottle as an investment - but as you said: the day might come, I pop the cork and offer it for a special occasion :-)
I've contemplated buying this one as well. For the sole purpose of holding onto it as an investment. I have a handful of bottles I've bought just to put away and see what happens to the value. Of course, there always is that chance I could say "F@&k It" and pop the cork for a special occasion. It's a slim chance, but one nonetheless. Cheers.
Oh, there is a huge market. Guess who buys all the Port Ellen's, Ardbeg special editions and Brora's! The Diageo brand ambassador told me yesterday, that ALL 48 bottles of Lagavulin 25 in Denmark were bought buy 1 person, seconds after it was available in the internet. That's about $60,000 - and I doubt he/she will drink all these bottles ;-)
The DE is amazing...and if that is 'almost' the same...heck, good enough for me. I'm surprised people invest in these???!! Maybe I'm old fashioned, but all my investments are dividend stocks, REITS, growth equity, and hard assets (commodity, real estate). Not sure I can invest in whisky, really a high risk/reward ratio on that
There are only 8000 bottles of this anniversary edition, and about 500 are being sold in the US. I guess most of them will be bought as investment, as prices will certainly creep up. If you don't have the chance to taste Lagavulin 25: relax. The Distiller's Edition is almost as good as this dram - but at less than 1/10 of its prize!
They need to have a "I'm jealous" button on this 😉