Keir's Tasting Notes
A real stunner. Great complexity on the nose. The bouquet starts with antiseptic ointment, then hot wax, orange marmalade, rubber bands, and some toffee – and going back a few minutes later there were some meaty bbq aromas. A sweet, creamy palate with a bit of peat to follow.
Tasted blind by Keir for the Scottish Field Merchant's Challenge

Whisky Magazine Tasting Notes
Nose: Lapsang Souchong and fruity sherry.
Palate: The dryness is at first offset by the sweetness of the sherry character. As the palate develops, oily, grassy, and, in particular, salty notes emerge in a long, sustained, aggressive, attack.
Finish: A huge, powerful, bear-hug of peat.
Comment: The driest of Islay malts, and an established classic.

Tasting Notes from Michael Jackson

Official tasting notes:
Appearance: Deep amber
Nose: A typically full-on Lagavulin nose that also shows great finesse, with less ripe fruit than earlier bottlings. Bergamot scented wood-smoke surrounds a sophisticated complex of sweeter aromas; smooth and creamy toffee sauce on digestive biscuits with shavings of milk chocolate. Later, appetising lemon and white pepper notes. With water, the aromas embrace toasted cereal and take on a roasted, nutty quality but the fragrant smoke always returns.
Body: Medium
Palate: Dusty, very sweet, then positively smoky, as with roasted chestnuts from a street vendor on a winter’s morning; Or a real-wood fired pizza with fresh pesto and pine kernels. Leaves the tongue tingling. Cleaner with water, which brings a smooth mouth feel and sophisticated smoke.
Finish: Long and smoky, with large amounts of exquisite smoke and a fragrant smoky aftertaste. Toasted sesame seeds and basil. Water brings out Indian spices (roasted cumin).

Also, Royal Mile Whiskies reccommend trying this whisky with Maltesers...delicious!

	Product Details
	Age:	16
	Maturation:	Bourbon
	Bottler:	the distillers
	Volume:	0.7
	Chill Filtered?	Chillfiltered

 

Lagavulin (Laga-voolin) means 'the hollow where the mill is.' Perhaps 'the hollow where the still is' would be a better description since it is believed that there were up to ten illicit stills in this area in the mid eighteenth century with Lagavulin itself being established in 1816. It is now one of Diageo's flagship 'Classic Malt' and is certainly one of the most robust, peaty Islay malts around. This is not, perhaps, a malt for beginners.

There are four relatively small, fat stills and according to the owners this spirit "receives the slowest distillation of any Islay malt - around five hours for the first distillation and more than nine hours for the second is the norm". It is this slow distillation that gives the malt its characteristic roundness and soft, mellow edges. Fermentation of the barley is a slow process. Fermentation is also slow - between 55 and 75 hours - which the distillers say allows a fuller, richer peatiness to come through. It is mainly matured in refill European oak casks.

The malt is used in the White Horse blends (sparingly, we suspect) which was created by Peter Mackie, who was nicknamed "Restless Peter" by his staff for his tireless work. He founded Malt Mill distillery which opened next to Lagavulin in 1908 and closed in 1960.