Single Malt Report: Tomatin Cask Strength, batch 1 (2016)

For laziness's sake, I'll quote yesterday's post: "I purchased these two well-filled minis when I was at the distillery.  My visit was on July 10th, they were bottled on June 8th.  That's some fresh stuff. "  Yesterday, I reviewed the 14yo Port Cask Finish.  Today, I'm reporting on the first batch of Tomatin's NAS Cask Strength series(?).  It's a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, like their regular 12yo and 18yo releases but without their age statements.  This release follows other recent unpeated (partially or fully) sherried NAS cask strength batches from Glendronach, Glengoyne, and Tamdhu.

Distillery: Tomatin

Ownership: Tomatin Distillery Co.

Region: Highlands (near Inverness)

Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: minimum 3 years

Maturation: ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks
Batch #: 1
Limited bottling: 15,000
Bottling code: L08 06 16

Alcohol by Volume: 57.5%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? Probably not

NEAT
Its color is light gold, lighter than the 14yo Port Cask Finish whisky.  The nose carries with it a yeast/bread note that lasts for less than a minute, then vanishes as the whisky opens up (or rather explodes forth).  First there are dried berries, grape Bubble Yum, caramel, and canned peaches.  Then confectioner's sugar and almond extract.  After 20 minutes some vanilla and maple syrup notes show up.  The palate, though very hot, is big on thick Glendronach-like sherry.  There are dried cherries, blueberry muffins, dark chocolate, chocolate (roasted) malt, and subtle cranberry note.  Not much sign of the ex-bourbon casks.  It finishes sharp and salty with a rising herbal bitter note.  The sherry retreats to the background.  Maybe some toffee.  Definitely a lot of heat.

WITH WATER (~50%abv)
Ah, here are the ex-bourbon casks in the nose.  Maple syrup, caramel, cinnamon, and roses.  Then toffee, almond extract, orange peel, simple syrup, and maybe a hint of sulphur.  Less heat in the palate, more bourbon cask, less sherry cask.  Small notes of malt and vanilla, larger notes of nuts in caramel.  Nectarines, milk chocolate, and spicy toasty oak.  The finish becomes bigger, thicker, and richer.  Lots of toffee and milk chocolate.  Nuts and malt.  A subtle bitter, almost smoky, note as well.

WITH WATER (~43%abv, the 12yo's strength)
The nose is going even further into ex-bourbon territory.  Barrel char, honey, roses, and pears.  Hints of cherries and cocoa.  The palate gets tannic, spicier, and sweeter.  A bit too sweet for me, actually.  A hint of dried cherries in milk chocolate.  It finishes very sweet as well.  Fruit punch with lemon-lime soda.

COMMENTS:
While I respect Serge V's breadth of experience, I have no idea what whisky he was drinking when he reviewed this same whisky.  Perhaps his sample went bad?  Or my sample went good?  He writes of a weird, raw, oak-free mess.  The Tomatin Cask Strength batch 1 I just drank was a near sherry bomb, roaring with active (in mostly good ways) casks.  Yes, our samples are a year apart and have different labels, but this is the same batch.

With the Tomatin CS, one gets a few whiskies for one's money.  As mentioned above, at full strength, it's a big hawt whisky, heavy on the sherry casks, though it loses a little of its charm in the finish.  At 50%abv, though it's slightly simpler, it's better focused and roars right through the finish.  At 43%abv, the youth and active oak start showing through.  So it's best to use caution when adding water.

Quality-wise, it's better than batch 1 of Glengoyne CS, and cheaper too.  While it can't match up to 'Dronach CS's first batch, it's still quite good, and cheaper too.  Whenever I do my next international order, I'll add a Tomatin CS batch 1 -- putting my money where my blog is -- if I can keep the price near $60.

Availability - Europe only, as of the date of this post
Pricing - $60-$80 minus VAT, plus shipping
Rating - 87 (careful with that water, Eugene)

Single Malt Report: Tomatin 14 year old Port Casks (2016)

I purchased these two well-filled minis when I was at the distillery.  My visit was on July 10th, they were bottled on June 8th.  That's some fresh stuff.  The minis show off Tomatin's new bottle design, which we should see here in the US later this year.  I didn't think anything was wrong with the recent conservative design, but luckily they don't go for much flair with the new style.

Though I haven't reviewed Tomatin's 12 and 18 year olds yet, I enjoy them both, though I used to be more enthusiastic about them at their earlier prices.  The 18 year old was easily found in the $50-$60 range not too long ago, but has seen a price bump (USA average) of 30% over the past two years.  If you can still find it for less than $70, it's now a bargain for an 18 year old single malt.  The 12 year old can still be found for $35, but its $25 days are over.  As a starter whisky, it's a leap better than Glenlivet 12 and it still has an age statement, so I guess $35 is acceptable in this marketplace.   ANYWAY, I'm not reviewing either of those whiskies today.

Instead I'm reviewing Tomatin's 14 year old "Port Casks".  Those port casks "held port for around 50 years" according to the website, a blurb you can take seriously or not.  The important part for us drinkers: those same casks held this whisky for one whole year.  So, yes, it's a finish, not a full nor secondary maturation.  Tomatin's core spirit is very good and very fruity, AND they bottle this thing at 46%abv, so I am optimistic.

Distillery: Tomatin

Ownership: Tomatin Distillery Co.

Region: Highlands (near Inverness)

Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: minimum 14 years

Maturation: at least 13 years in ex-bourbon casks, then a final year in port casks
Bottling code: L08 06 16

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? Possibly not?

NEAT
Its color is a peachy gold.  The nose starts out big and stinky, a bit cheesy actually.  Lots of port.  Leather, Chambord, and cherries.  After 10 minutes in the glass, the whisky gets brighter, fruitier, almost floral.  A big note of orange soda appears.  Some ethyl heat and milk chocolate start off the palate.  A peppery, almost smoky, sulphur note rests in the midground.  Plenty of port, but also a tart white wine.  Super sour grapefruits and tart blackberries.  It finishes hot and simply.  Rubbery sulphur, hints of dark berries and black pepper.  A maple syrup note in the far background.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
It gets cloudy as soon as the water hits.  The nose goes silent at first.  After five minutes, it floats back up as plastic toys, plum sauce, and honey mustard.  The palate improves.  The sulphur softens.  There's more (and better) citrus.  Hints of caramel sauce and cayenne pepper.  A berry candy (or raspberry syrup) note appears and expands.  It finishes with the raspberries, honey, and a hint of dark chocolate.

COMMENTS:
My optimism was foolish.  The end.

Okay, maybe a few more words.

Much better than the hackneyed Talisker Port Ruighe and glum Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban, Tomatin's port cask finished single malt desperately requires water.  The mouth coalesces and grows richer when dropped to 40%abv.  Though the nose never feels like one piece, no matter what, firing off in multiple clashing directions, reminiscent of many things Glenmorangie.  I actually added more water when drinking it casually, dropping it to around 30%abv, and that may have improved it further, so perhaps that's the key.

But this proves to be the first Tomatin I cannot recommend.  Its broad price range averages out somewhere north of $70.  At that rate, I'd say go with the 18 instead, or two bottles of the 12.  Or maybe tomorrow's whisky......?

Availability - A few dozen US retailers, many more in Europe
Pricing - $50-$85 (USA and Europe)
Rating - 79 (with water only)

Tomatin Distillery's Single Cask Experience

It was more important for us to stay in Drumnadrochit than for me to attend a whisky tour while we were in the Highlands, but a window of time opened up on July 10th for me to hit one of two nearby distilleries.  Glen Ord and Tomatin both produce good stuff, though to find quality Ord one has to explore the independent bottlers or hit the secondary market for dusties.  Strike one.  Also, Ord is owned by Diageo and I already had a Diageo distillery tour scheduled on Islay (reviewed here!).  Diageo connection?  Strike two and three.  Ord out.  Tomatin was a go.

Tomatin's site shows a few different tour options.  Since I wasn't probably going to get another opportunity to visit Tomatin, I went with the fancy tour, the Single Cask Experience.

Our three days (two nights) in the Highlands proved to be the only rainy days while were in Scotland, so this was my only distillery tour that included an actual drizzle.  I showed up five minutes late, stressed out that the tour group left without me.  That was technically impossible, as I learned upon my arrival, because I was the tour group.  I had The Experience to myself.

My guide was Ken, a former radio guy, now a Tomatin Man.  I peppered him with questions throughout, and he held his own.

I can't tell you for certain how much of the tour section of The Experience is more in depth or behind-the-scenes than the regular tour.  There were plenty of stops to see some of the rustier, less romantic, nerdy stuff that may or may not be on the average distillery tour.

In any case I got a chance to hang out in their old mash tun.  I attempted three selfies.  All were frightening.  So here's just a photo of the thing and its blades:

And now here's their actual mash tun:

The distillery was down for annual repairs that day, so you won't see any wort down there.

Here's their very old kiln for back in the day when they did their own peated maltings, more than a half century ago:

After the distillery was expanded to a insane size 1974, it was scaled down a decade later.  But a lot of the gear is still there, like the kiln and mash tun.  A few enormous washbacks remain and have been sealed, but they're so enormous that they were impossible to photograph.  Tomatin did sell off (or scrap) their extra stills and now twelve stills remain (though only ten are currently in use).  The ones shown on the regular tour look like this:

See that nice color and shine?  That's the honey glaze all distilleries give to their showoff stills.  But this is what copper still looks like, without the glaze, gloriously oxidized:

We made a stop at one of their two dunnage warehouses, where I was told that this is the oldest cask in their warehouses:

Tomatin 50, anyone?

And then, it was single cask time!

These are the five single casks they're selling in their distillery shop, along with (yay!) their new make.  I received ~25mL pours of each.  Here are my notes, from left to right.

First was their new make at its barreling strength of 63.5%abv.  The nose and palate are lovely, very drinkable, like a delicate eau de vie, even at this strength, full of barley, white fruits, and clay.  But I'm a sucker for new make.

Next up was a 9 year old virgin oak cask (#69), distilled in 2006, bottled at 60%abv.  The nose leads with vanilla and coconut.  It's plenty sugary, lightly nutty, with a little bit of wood smoke.  The palate is creamy and loaded with coconut.  A slight green herbal note keeps it from being too desserty.

Then was a 12 year old (refill?) ex-bourbon barrel (#2592), distilled in 2003, bottled at 62.1%abv.  The nose is loaded with fresh apricots, caramel sauce, and sugar cookies.  Lots of pears, peaches, and countless stone fruits in the palate.  Excellent.  My favorite of the group!

Then, a 10 year old ex-oloroso cask (#5218), distilled in 2005, bottled at 58.2%abv.  Some fruit from the new make still peeks through in the nose, joined by pepper and a slight earthy note.  Meanwhile, the palate is mostly cask.  Raisins, prunes, and caramel, without any fresh fruits.

Next was a 14 year old (#34915), distilled in 2002, with 10 years in ex-bourbon and 4 years in ex-Pedro Ximenez, bottled at 55.8%abv.  The nose is blessedly light on gooey PX, instead it's mostly orange peel, almonds, and anise.  The raisins show up in the palate, lining up with some moderate stone fruit notes.

Lastly came the 25 year old first fill bourbon cask (#16366), distilled in 1990, bottled at 54.4%abv.  The nose is full of floral (blooms, not soap) and tropical fruit notes.  Some nice caramel sauce as well.  The palate is very fruity, but also carries with it a heft of creamy vanilla oak notes.

The 12yo ex-bourbon cask was the standout of the bunch (probably an A-/90ish whisky), and I've been kicking myself ever since for not buying a bottle of it.  Though the 25yo was good, one could get three bottles of the 12 for its price (£200+ vs £70), and I'd argue the 12 was better, showing off Tomatin at its best.  The other three casks were decent, but I'd happily buy a bottle of the new make instead of them.

If you're heading to Tomatin, intent on buying a bottle or two of their distillery exclusive casks, I'd highly recommend the Single Cask Experience.  For a fraction of the price of one bottle, it's the only way to try the casks before you buy, so it may save you from paying much more for something you won't like upon opening.  It's also the only way to try the distillery's new make, and you'll get a great tour along the way.

Single Malt Report: Longrow 21 year old (Open Day 2016)

Yes, you read that correctly.  Longrow 21 year old.  It's a single refill bourbon cask sold only during Open Day 2016.

When I saw one bottle of Longrow 21 at Cadenhead in Campbeltown, I was like &$&^%@#$!@! HOW MUCH MONEY COST THIS????  I was told the bottle was just for display.  :(  Three hours later I discovered that Ardshiel Hotel had an open bottle at their bar.  :)  I carefully deposited my paid pour into a sample bottle and brought it back home in my luggage.

On a related note, now that I've tried a half dozen Open Day bottlings from over the years, I'd rather attend the Campbeltown Malts Festival than join the hoards for Feis Ile on Islay (the two of which basically dovetail in May).

Distillery: Springbank

Brand: Longrow
Region: Campbeltown

Age: 21 years (November 1994 - May 2015)

Maturation: refill ex-bourbon cask

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Limited Bottling: 230

NEAT
It has my favorite whisky color, five beer piss, very light for a 21 year old whisky.  The lovely nose starts off with grapefruits, lemons, peaches, and dried apricots.  The mango-lime smoothie (Mango Cardamom Blast, to be specific) my wife makes once a week.  There are hints of pine needless, toffee pudding, seaweed, and hay.  It gets more phenolic with time, picking up some farmy notes along the way.  Meanwhile the palate is much farmier and earthier than the nose.  It's very minerally with subtler lemon notes underneath.  A hint of metal.  A sharp metallic bite.  With time it gets spicier and slightly fruity.  A slight Laphroaig-ish salt/medicinal/iodine note appears as well.  Its texture and mouthfeel is oddly thin throughout, though.  The finish has light smoke and ash, lemon and lime. Salty beach air, delicate sweetness, and slight barn note.

WITH A FEW DROPS OF WATER
The nose feels younger now, peatier.  The fruit retreats, though maybe there's some blueberry pie.  More cow barn.  The palate picks up a big peppery bite and becomes more astringent, harder to crack.  Dirtier, sharper peat.  A quiet mango note, but mostly tart acidic citrus.  Like the nose, the finish comes across younger.  It's ashy, dirty, with lots of black pepper.  Hints of mango and lime.

COMMENTARY:
Three Pros about this whisky:
1.) This is the perfect example of a whisky that's light on oak yet well matured.
2.) The nose is stunning. No water please.
3.) When a regular Longrow 21 comes out, it should be excellent as a small batch.

I mentioned the small batch part because the palate is not this whisky's strong point.  As referenced in the notes, its mouthfeel is watery and becomes a slight distraction.  The finish is a bit shorter and plainer than I expected.  I'm probably picking nits here because the whisky tastes good, but it comes nowhere near the fabulous nose.  If Springbank were to put together a small batch of 10 casks or so (an 1800-2000 bottle release), they could be able to blend up the palate's quality.  Perhaps a couple slightly oakier casks might help too.

Overall, this a very good, almost great, whisky.  I don't know what it had cost at the festival, but if you're reading this post and you did scoop up a bottle, congrats!  Otherwise, we'll just have to wait to see if there'll be another 21 for the rest of us.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???
Rating - 88

Single Malt Report: Wolfburn Single Malt Whisky

Wolfburn distillery is now the most northern mainland Scotch distillery, up and to the west of Old Pulteney.  Almost two hundred years ago, a different Wolfburn distillery opened in the same town (Thurso) and functioned for anywhere between sixteen and forty years before its permanent closure.  That distillery, like this new one, was named after the water source, The Wolf Burn.  The current distillery has a production capacity almost the same size as Kilchoman's, and they're currently keeping all of their production for single malt, not trading any casks out to blending companies.  For more distillery data, click over here.

The release of Wolfburn's single malt heralds the first hint of what will result from the recent boom of new Scottish distilleries (Annandale, Ardnamurchan, Ballindalloch, etc.).  Wolfburn's construction did have a slight jump on some of the other newbies, but they have also decided to bottle their stuff just as it hits the legal age of three years (distilling began in January 2013, the whisky was released in February 2016).  This may be due to the production team thinking their whisky is ready OR the distillery investors were demanding to see some revenue OR everyone involved wants to strike while the scotch iron is hot, er, hasn't cooled entirely.  (With the opposite approach, the Cuthbert family's small Daftmill farm distillery has been tucking away casks for eleven years without a single public release.)  Though cautiously hopeful about this new whisky era, I realize Wolfburn's product is only three years old, and thus won't reveal much about the bigger picture, unless all the other new distilleries also start dumping at age three.

(One random observation: Who at Wolfburn okayed the use of "Handcrafted" on the front of the label?  I can see a Diageo marketing unit utilizing that word for a Caol Ila release, but Wolfburn?  Thanks to constant marketing abuse, "Handcrafted" has become a meaningless term in the whisk(e)y industry, or even worse, a joke.  Sort of like McDonald's Artisan Chicken Sandwiches.  And what part of the whisky is handcrafted?  Even at Springbank, the most old school of scotch distilleries, not a single hand touches the product from the sweeping of the malted barley into the milling chute until the cask valinch many years later.  Machines, chemistry, and time craft whisky, and there's nothing wrong with that.  So, boo to the use of "Handcrafted" on the label, especially since it's printed larger than "Natural Color", "Non-Chill Filtered", and "Product of Scotland". )

Distillery: Wolfburn
Owner: Aurora Brewing

Region: Northern Highlands

Age: minimum 3 years

Maturation: ex-Islay quarter casks made from Spanish and American oak

Bottling Date: 2016
Limited bottling: 16,000 or 62,000 depending on what site one reads
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltration? No
Colorant? No
This sample was poured at a Scottish bar, deposited into a sample bottle, and then spirited back to the United States.

NEAT
Its color is very pale, with a slight green tint.  Bushels of roasted barley in the nose, followed by soil, burnt butter, yeast, and circus peanuts.  With 20 minutes in the glass some new notes take over: fresh thyme, eau de vie, and toddler pee.  The palate leads with burnt plastic, charred tobacco leaves, and sweet barley syrup.  Lots of ethyl heat throughout.  After 20 minutes, there's baseball card bubblegum powder and a hint of lemon.  There's a bitter burnt note in the finish as well as a metallic note.  Then yeast, sorghum beer, and heat.  But mostly it's whisky wash.

WITH A FEW DROPS OF WATER
Some of the palate's burnt notes come up into the nose, especially something like burnt yeast.  The circus peanut note expands.  Some new notes of caramel, cucumber-melon hand soap, and mint extract appear.  There's a decent bitter thing in the palate along with horseradish and dried herbs.  It's less sweet too.  But there are also lead and burnt bread notes in foreground.  The finish is yeasty and bitter, but not sugary.

FINAL PARAGRAPH:
I've met a few whisky geeks in the LA area who distill and age their own malt whisky.  Their 6-12 month old stuff is of about the same quality as Wolfburn's three year old.  But their whisky is not on the market.  Wolfburn's is.  Because Wolfburn's whisky is three years old, it's neither complex or complete, nor should anyone expect it to be.  Instead its spirit's edge hangs right out front, flapping in the wind.  That's a confident way to go, but that doesn't necessarily mean the stuff is great.  There's plenty of promise to it, so I look forward to trying their whisky again when it's seven years older.

Availability - A dozen retailers in the US, several dozen in Europe
Pricing - US $55-$70, Europe $45-$65
Rating - 74

Laphroaig Distillery's Water to Whisky Experience

When scheduling my Scotland posts, I didn't realize that the first week's worth were going to be so negative.  Kristen and I had such a lovely time there that I feel as if I've poorly communicated the experience.  So to remedy that, I'd like to share a bit about my favorite whisk(e)y distillery tour of all time.

Laphroaig's Water to Whisky Experience, or as I've been calling it "The Baller Tour", does cost £90.  Yes, I agree, that's a lot of money.  You know how many bottles of long-matured single cask Laphroaig you can purchase for £90?  Okay, none.  A different comparison:  £90 is a lot of money and one can still get a bottle or two of good whisky for that price.  But the thing is, most of us will never get another chance to go to Islay.  Most of us will never get another chance to go to Laphroaig.  Most of us will never get another chance to get an insider's tour to the distillery, hike across more than a mile of open Islay farmland, eat big spread of local Islay nosh by Laphroaig's water source, cut wet peat, taste single casks from Laphroaig's warehouses, pour my own bottle, all the while drinking single malt whisky on the island on which its made, for four and a half hours.  Considering all this, the tour was worth the price.

I mean, damn.  This is me.

I just cut Laphroaig peat.  Look at the expressions of awe on the two gents in the background.  And I am rocking those wellies.

Okay, I'll let you recover from the awesomeness of that photo for a moment.

...

...

...

I'll start at the beginning.

In my last post, I mentioned I departed Lagavulin because "I had somewhere (better) to be".  That somewhere was Laphroaig Distillery.  It was 11:30am and I had to get to there before noon for the tour.  Luckily the Port Ellen township had recently built a walking path between distilleries, so I hoofed it.

The weather and the scenery was beautiful, making for an excellent 20 minute walk.

When I got to the distillery in time, Sherillyn was there to hand me some swag and a glass of Triple Wood.  She knew I was a whisky blogger, which was impressive since I'm the 748th most popular whisky blogger in my area code.  Sherillyn (Bruichladdich fan and daughter of local farmer who sells barley to 'Laddie) was joined by Jennie (a new mom, just coming back to work after months of baby girl time), and they two led the Water to Whisky tour group of Germans, Quebecois, and the 748th most popular whisky blogger in his area code.

We started out with a good extended distillery tour, met a number of real human employees who actually dirtied their hands in the creation of Laphroaig whisky, and got to see malting floors in action.

I took this photo as I dove head first into the barley. They let you do that on the tour. (No, they don't.)

Pictures are worth a certain amount of words and I'm all about value.  So, some photos:

Barley peat sauna

Shazaam! Burning peat turds.

The four copper wizard hats

Once the indoor tour was complete, then it was time for the drive, hike, and lunch.  We walked across this...

...to get to this...

Where we ate a lunch of locally made soup, smoked fish, beef, lamb, cheeses, and tablet.  There's a lot of this along the hike...

...so one feels like one has earned one's lunch.  And when I hoovered up every last crumb, it wasn't just to be polite.  The food was excellent, possibly the best lunch I had while in Scotland.  And we got a bottle of Quarter Cask from which we poured freely.  Then we hiked back.

Then we were driven to the peat lands just north of Port Ellen.

Where this happened...

...after which I was given a pour of Laphroaig Lore for my efforts.  And then a pour of the Cairdeas 2016.  (Quick hot take: the new Cairdeas is okay, but it ain't a patch on the 2015.  When drinking it amidst sudden 30mph Islay winds, I found the wine cask element barely registering.  Taking all of that helpful information into consideration, I like the Lore better.)

We came back to the distillery and turned in our rubber boots.  I picked up my rent (a Laphroaig 10 mini) for my square foot of Islay, and then grabbed a pour of the 10yo Cask Strength Batch 008. (Quick hot take: 008 has a similar bitter peppery punch that Batch 007 had and the sweetness was very reserved. A good sign.)

To the warehouse!

Just for show (sadly), this cask was signed by #1 fan, Prince Charles.

We tasted samples pulled from three single casks.  I don't have photos of these because I was too busy drinking whisky.

Cask 1 - 11 year old 2005, spent 8 years in ex-bourbon and 3 years in a quarter cask, ~56%abv: Very good quality Laphroaig and my second favorite of the three.  The quarter cask had much less influence on the whisky than I'd expected.  Utilizing refill ex-bourbons to make quarter casks seems to result in less of the oak-syrup quality that virgin oak and "rejuvenated" casks impart. Anyway, this one was a little reminiscent of the official 10yo CSes.

Cask 2 - 12 year old 2004, 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel, ~51%abv:

More heat than the higher ABV younger cask and less peaty.  It's not bad whisky, but...

Cask 3 - 18 year old 1998, ex-sherry butt, ~59.3%abv:

This one made drinkers emit noises.  Bringing the whisky glass up to the nose, one finds oneself snorting molasses, toffee, and tablet while knee deep in a burning bog.  Also, it tastes wonderful.  Thus it was my selection.

After this, the show was over.  My wife arrived just in time to rescue Sherillyn and Jennie from the 748th most popular whisky blogger in his area code.  Kristen had spent the day actually exploring the island while I had been nerding out, and now it was about time for us get a drink.  Being the sober one, she drove us back to our B&B, not at all making our rented Audi A3 catch air when Dukes of Hazarding it over a bump on the A846.  That never happened, nope.

Tour recommended.

A morning at Lagavulin distillery, plus a 34 year old Lagavulin single cask!

A clickable table of contents!
Part 1: Lagavulin Distillery Tour
Part 2: Quick Facts!
Part 3: Warehouse Demonstration
Part 4: Warehouse Whiskies
Part 5: Lagavulin 34 year old 1982 single ex-Dewars cask
Part 6: Parting Thoughts

Lagavulin Distillery Tour

July 12th was a very whisky day.  It began at 9:30am when Kristen dropped me off at Lagavulin distillery.  I had booked both the regular distillery tour and the "Warehouse Demonstration".  The first thing I noticed was that the distillery shop was the most mediocre one I'd ever seen, and that includes all of the tiny US craft distillery shops I'd been to.  There were no distillery exclusives nor anything that couldn't be purchased at any random retail shop.  In fact, I'm not entirely sure what purpose the tiny shop served.  There were many people attending the tours while I was there and no one purchased anything.

The tour itself was the most impersonal one I experienced while in Scotland.  I don't remember the guide's name and I'm not certain he even told us.  We weren't allowed to take any photos during the tour, which was weird because there's nothing abnormal going on at the distillery and there's no way anyone could recreate the Lagavulin spirit at home by utilizing distillery photos.  So the only distillery photo I can share with you is the one above.  Yes, it's "Agavulin" distillery because that little house blocks the "L" from almost every angle.

As per the distillery website: "This tour of the process at Lagavulin Distillery includes a dram of one of our core range and a complimentary glass and a voucher for £5 off the purchase of a 70cl single malt."  I received none of those things.  Then again, they forgot to charge me for the tour.

Quick Facts!

Lagavulin gets their malted barley from the Port Ellen maltings a few miles down the road.  Though they "try to use Scottish barley", they do tend to get the majority of it from Britain, Sweden, and Italy.  It arrives three times a week, peated to 34ppm from 16 hours of peated drying.

Like many of Scotland's distilleries, Lagavulin utilizes a Porteus mill, a large red steel box that hasn't broken down since it arrived in 1963.  The perfect milled grist ratio for their wort is 70% grit, 20% husk, 10% flour.  Too much flour and things start to get sticky and gummy.

They apply at least two rounds of hot water to make the wort.  The first water is 64ºC, the next ones range from 71ºC to 82ºC.  The resulting wort is usually around 70ºC, then they cool it to 18ºC-20ºC before they apply the yeast in the washbacks.  They do four rounds of this wort process each day.

They have ten washbacks made of larch wood.  They (not sure if it's a person or an automated process) fill each washback 3/4s of the way up with wort, then add 80 liters of liquid yeast.  The fermentation lasts 55 hours, resulting in a 8-9%abv wash.

Their bizarro stills are quite a sight to see. I wish I could have taken photos.  (Here's another site's image.)  Because there are no reflux bulbs, the stills look like lumpy upside-down ice cream cones.  In fact, I'm sure they all have slightly different shapes. Meanwhile the lyne arms abruptly drop downwards.  Taking these structures into consideration, and the fact that they fill the stills to 90%, the result is a dense heavy spirit.  Probably the exact opposite of Glenmorangie.

The first distillation results in low wines of 25-26%abv.  The heart of the cut they're looking for in the second long distillation is 68-69%abv.

All cask filling is done in Fife on the mainland.  So, no, there's no magical Islay sea salt air massaging all of Lagavulin's barrels.  They have 7000 casks in modern warehouses on site, 6000 in warehouses at Port Ellen Maltings, 3000 in Caol Ila's warehouses, and 234000 on the mainland.

And, yes, it's all very 21st (or late 20th) century automated.  More tech, fewer hands, seems to be the goal.

Warehouse Demonstration

Ah, the real reason I went to Lagavulin.  If you read other older reviews of the warehouse demonstration, it sounds absolutely dreamy with five to seven 30+mL pours of single casks and a chance to taste Lagavulin's new make, courtesy of Iain "Pinky" McArthur (48 years working at the distillery).  But, to quote Robert Zimmerman, things have changed.

Iain told us, before the event started, that "Health & Safety" now forces him to have an assistant accompany him to do controlled pours.  And by controlled pours, I mean <15mL pours.  And, no new make.  In place of the new make, one gets a <15mL pour of the 8yo, something one can get at every decent bar in the country.  I don't know if "Health & Safety" is a government branch or a Diageo unit, but no other cask tasting I went to in Scotland had the same restriction.  Though I appreciated hearing Iain openly mocking these changes, it still was a letdown.  Because one cannot buy a bottle of any of the casks one tastes at the demonstration (again, the only cask tasting I went to with this restriction), the demonstration serves only as an educational experience.  Yet it's debatable how educational a 10-15mL pour can be.

Iain was a great host, always irreverent, always blunt.  He said he would have preferred the 8yo to have been released at cask strength.  And he told us that every Lagavulin whisky was chillfiltered, including the cask strength 12 year old.  His energy and humor partly made up for the changes to demonstration and distracted this drinker from the fact that since Iain's audience filled every last space, Diageo grossed around £700 during that hour.  To put that in perspective, in 2013 your £15 ticket bought you 10-15 UK (or 6-8 US) units of alcohol, while, in 2016, your £23 now gets you 3-4 UK (or less than 2 US) units of alcohol.  I am not insensitive to the need for safe drinking, but this represents a 475%-600% devaluing of the visitors' money.

All the whiskies were very good, as I'll detail below, but I had somewhere (better) to be towards the end so I bottled up my final pour and split before I found out whether or not I'd get the £5 voucher towards the lamest distillery gift shop on the planet.  I bottled up the final pour.  Who would have known that whisky would have been the highlight of all things Lagavulin...

Warehouse Whiskies

Lagavulin 8 year old - Allow me to point you towards my review of this very whisky.  My opinion of it remains the same.

Lagavulin 12 year old 2004, 1st fill ex-sherry cask, 52.5%abv
Nose - Mint and milk chocolate, subtler peat and smoke notes than expected
Palate - Nice, lightly bitter, fruity and loaded with almonds.  A long finish.

Lagavulin 14 year old 2002, refill cask, 54.6%abv
Nose - Anise, green herbs, black berries
Palate - Big and nutty, with toffee pudding and toasty peat.

Lagavulin 18 year old 1998, 2nd fill ex-sherry cask, 57.5%abv
Nose - Really young and (what I imagine would be) new-makey. Apples, mint, chocolate, and a hint of anise.
Palate - Lots of pepper and sugar.  Cinnamon candy and slivovitz.
There was barely any color to this 18yo.  That must be one dead cask.

Lagavulin 23 year old 1993, 1st fill ex-sherry cask, 56.4%abv
Nose - Fruit cake, toffee, and vibrant peat.
Palate - Yum. Fruity, herbal, bitter chocolate, dried fruit, and rich peat.
This one was a significant improvement over the other three casks.

And now....

Lagavulin 34 year old 1982, ex-Dewars cask, 55.2%abv

Its color is a pale amber, a good sign so far.  The nose is... ... ... gorgeous. Dark chocolate, barbecue pulled pork, deep dark earthy peat, rosewater, honey, roasted nuts, roasted seaweed, almond butter, maté, Ceylon cinnamon, and rich caramel sauce.  The palate is a cinnamon and brown sugar syrup infused with intense peat char, old cognac, and something I can only describe as antique shop.  One may find oneself getting lost......as it finishes in the ocean.  Seaweed, salt.  Dry peat smoke, earth, and horseradish.  Very long.

Stunning, regal whisky. This could easily stand up to all of Laphroaig's famous long-aged releases with all its grace and power.  Despite its color, this is not naked spirit.  The oak, while present, works in harmony with the spirit, framing and highlighting its best characteristics. It's a whisky that needs to be savored and appreciated slowly, so I'm happy I took this sample back with me. The 5 minute window during the demonstration wouldn't have been enough time for me to appreciate this excellent cask.  Giving this liquid a numerical score feels even sillier than usual, so here's a Grade Range: A.

(For another review of (I think) this cask, see Jordan's post here.)

Parting Thoughts

I didn't leave Lagavulin totally disappointed.  I recognized it to be a once in a lifetime experience (not just because I won't go there a second time) and fairly educational.  It was once I started comparing it to the rest of the tours and demonstrations I went to during my trip that the near complete lack of effort on the part of the distillery (and its parent company) became clear.  Iain McArthur was the only person putting any effort into the experience.  The rest of the humans, from top to bottom of the latter, seem to know they needn't be bothered to do much for the visitors' money, because we keep arriving at the front door.  And I guess I could just chalk up my £23 to paying for the 10-15mL of the divine 34 year old cask, but I can't write off everything that came before it.  Aside from Iain McArthur, the experience felt, like everything else in Diageo's single malt production, automated.

If you keep your expectations in check, and if you just want an opportunity to be at Lagavulin, and if they are still pouring from the 34yo cask, then I can tepidly recommend a visit.  But if you're looking for an amazing, fulfilling, or even welcoming experience, you may want to look elsewhere on the island.  As for me, I don't regret doing the tour, but I sort of wish I'd have gone to Kilchoman instead.