Reverend357
Lagavulin 12 Year (2017 Special Release)
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
December 11, 2018 (edited February 8, 2020)
Day 11. Lagavulin 12 2017.
To be honest, I never did get the hype that surrounds the Lagavulin 16. I never really enjoyed that one, and I still prefer Laphroaig and Ardbeg over it. But the 12, damn that's a nice dram. Almost makes me curious to open my bottle of the 8.
On the nose we get the typical peat blast at first, supported by the somewhat high proof. There is pepper, smoked bacon and salty air in there, as well as some plums.
The taste however...damn. Up front you get a load of sweet honey, pepper and salt, then the BBQ smoked meat starts shining through. Honey glazed ribs. Exactly what I want out of an Islay. There is also a distinct note of cooked peaches in there. And as we know those go very well with meat and give it a certain fruityness.
The aftertaste that stays with you is the typical honey ribs flavor with some fruity sweet condiments to go with it. Just amazing.
This is what I want from a peated scotch. I was not disappointed, but it still won't beat the 5 point Brodir, so 4.75 it is.
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It might not be overhyped in general, but it was in the whisky vault crowd...same as the monkey shoulder. And since that was my entry point into the whisky world, that might have colored my view. And yes, Macallan and HP are marketing beasts...it's just a shame that many of the NAS HPs are....suboptimal compared to their packaging.
I don't think that Lagavulin 16 is overhyped. This is not Macallan or Highland Park, where a whole marketing department is wrecking the reputation of what used to be a great whisky. Lagavulin is an old classic, and as such it is difficult to maintain quality across batches. Some batches are certainly weaker than others, but releasing the 8 yo Lagavulin has certainly helped to release some pressure off their flagship expression.
I think I'm going to revisit the 16 soon, still have 2/3rds of a bottle left. Personally for me I think it's just that I dislike overhyped stuff. The more hype it gets, the more likely it fails to live up to that hype. That might have ruined it for me. That and that it was one of my first peated whiskies....
@Scott_E Yes, one certainly can't discount the fact that palates and preferences change, but I'm not convinced that that's all that is going on.
@Scott_E I think you're right. We’ve changed through the years
@Slainte-Mhath @cascode @LeeEvolved @PBMichiganWolverine could it also be that since the last time Laga16 was sipped moving forward, the collective palates have matured or experienced more over time that what once blew your hair back (for those with some) is now just decent? I have seen tastes of 21, 25, 33, 34 and some 40+ age whisky reviews, which, generally speaking are not “every day” drams. Just throwing it out there....
@Slainte-Mhath Yes, opinion is divided on this across the whisky enthusiast world. I remember @Rick_M did some considerable experimentation into this and concluded there had been no change. It's almost 12 months since my last bottle of Lag16 so I suppose I should pull the trigger again and see what the most recent batch is like.
@cascode I think I have to disagree. I had a 20 cl bottle of Lagavulin 16 just recently, and was expecting to be disappointed. The opposite happened, I enjoyed it more than ever and was actually rather impressed with the quality. However, I do prefer the 12 yo CS as a more intense peat bomb experience. Just my 2 cents :)
@cascode @LeeEvolved @Reverend357 it wouldn’t surprise me that Lag 16 has gone down a bit over the years. It’s natural. They can’t increae price too much, but their cost of getting top barrels has gone up. So, something has to give...which is a bit on quality. @LeeEvolved I love their DE, which is why I think I really liked the GoT 9 yr one.
@cascode - it’s been so long since I’ve tried the Laga 16 I can’t remember much about it. I recently drank through a bottle of the 8 to compare it next to the Laga 9 Game Of Thrones and I can reaffirm that I love the 8yo. The Game Of Thrones 9 year- well, I’m still weighing my opinion as I still have half a bottle to work through. I would best describe it at this point as a Distiller’s Edition with an age statement. If you like the DE, you’ll like the GoT version.
At the risk of stirring up a hornet's nest, Lagavulin 16 is just not what it used to be. It's still good whisky, but for me a 7 or 8 out of 10 now whereas once it was 9.5/10 without hesitation. Somewhere around 2012-14 it lost heft and presence. The 12 year, 8 year, Distiller's Editions and Feis Ila releases are all currently better demonstrations of what the distillery can achieve.