Lagavulin 12 year old Cask Strength (2016 release)

Trigger warning: Some of the following sentences may be interpreted as being complimentary towards Diageo.

Of the three famous Kildalton distilleries, Diageo's Lagavulin seems to be the only one that's serious about maintaining product quality. The other two focus instead on quantity. Beam Suntory's Laphroaig has taken one of Earth's best distillates and buried it under countless cask types and combinations thereof, creating more and more and more products. LVMH's Ardbeg has fully embraced the strange burden of creating a new limited edition whisky every year with a dumb story and a dumber name while not actually matching the muscle and depth of their standard range.

Lagavulin does have a special release or three each year but they're always a simple combo of bourbon and/or sherry casks. Like Laphroaig, Lagavulin releases an annual full-powered bourbon cask age stated release. And though the Lagavulin CS is 40-50% pricier than the Laphroaig, I've found it to be much more consistent. And better. With all this in mind, I've chosen to review four Lagavulins this week, leading up to Mathilda's 6th birthday on Friday, starting with one of the 12-year-old cask strength editions.

Distillery: Lagavulin

Owner: Diageo
Region: Islay
Maturation: refill American oak casks

Age: minimum 12 years
Release date: 2016
Outturn: ??,???
Alcohol by Volume: 57.7%

Chill-filtration? Probably not
Caramel coloring? Probably not

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Kind of a baked peat in the nose, at first, but then it switches to a seaweed character that moves to the fore. Then raw cocoa, rosemary, parmesan and smoked paprika. After 30+ minutes the cigarettes show up, followed by soil, brown sugar and orange peel. Bunches of lemons and buckets of minerals in the palate. There's also yuzu, grapefruit, tart kiwi, salt and very heavy kiln smoke. That same kiln note leads the lengthy finish and is joined by a little bit of savoriness, grapefruits and pineapple.

DILUTED TO ~48%abv, or 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose becomes much fruitier. Apples, pineapples and green grapes. Some flower blossoms. The peat goes to the ocean. Like the nose, the palate gets cuddlier. It's sweeter with papaya and pineapple notes, which is in turn balanced by a moderate bitter smoke. The finish also keeps the sweetness, tartness, bitterness and smoke in tune.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Lagavulin is one of the rare distilleries whose official bottlings top anything offered by the indies. None of the "undisclosed Islays" I've tried have come anywhere near the quality of the Lagavulin 12yo CS batches. And yes, the 2016 batch is another winner. I was hesitant to move it into 90-point range, but its mix of fruit and salt and smoke is outstanding. Again. Lagavulin starts the week strong.

Availability - This edition is probably sold out

Pricing - more recent batches are $100-$170, depending on the country or state
Rating - 90

Benriach 34 year old 1968 Duncan Taylor, cask 2592

Firstly, many many thanks to Jordan who generously provided this sample, like a half decade ago (at least). Please see his review here.

One often has to go to the independent bottlers to find an unedited Benriach. The vast majority of official Benriach releases (no matter the batch size) are from a mix of casks. Today's 34 year old Duncan Taylor is from a single bourbon cask. And judging by its tint it was not re-racked into a zippier barrel.

Wednesday's Benriach on the left, today's on the right

That's one of the lightest colored 30+ year old whiskies I've seen a long time. That's a great sign! Probably.

Distillery: Benriach
Bottler: Duncan Taylor
Series: Rare Auld
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Age: 34 years (November 1968 - June 2003)
Maturation: bourbon cask (I think)
Cask number: 2592
Outturn: 125 bottles, and this was bottle #1!
Alcohol by Volume: 48%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Coloring? No

(sample from Mr. CocktailChem, see above)

NOTES

The nose is full of limes, citrons, minerals and plenty of barley. To my surprise, charcoal smoke drifts beneath the fruits. There's a gentle dunnage note, followed by moments of pineapple and ginger beer. 45 minutes later some fennel and peppery smoke appear. Lots of fruit in the palate as well. Think kiwi, lychee and nectarines. A little bit of butterscotch, a little bit of bitterness. It's increasingly tangy, slightly perfume-y,  and never too sweet. Though it does sweeten up in the finish. At first it was like liquefied Kasugai candies, but then the tart limes roll in, followed by some mild tannins.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I think I prefer this Benriach slightly over the official 25. Though it has kept its youthful barley heart, I like the feel of the old cask, especially in the nose. Or is it because I knew the whisky was 34 years old when I sipped it? The nose holds the most complexity, balancing the fruits, smoke, grains and staves the best. I didn't add water because the whisky read nicely at this strength and (again possibly influenced by my knowledge of the age statement) it felt like it would crumble when diluted. The thing about this Rare Auld series is it reminds me of the days when......aw damn it, I'm feeling nostalgic. I'd better stop while I'm ahead. Good whisky.

Availability - Sold out long ago
Pricing - ???
Rating - 88

Benriach 27 year old 1984, cask 1052

I can't believe I still have samples left from whiskysamples.eu. Man, I miss that site. Anyway, this single cask was released by the Billy Walker regime back when they were still partying through hundreds of long-aged casks leftover from the Seagram's era. Finishing an old whisky, especially a peated whisky, in a PX cask doesn't seem like a good idea but for some reason Billy Walker's crew knew how to do it better than anyone. So I have faith. This time.

Distillery: Benriach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd
Age: 27 years old (1984 - July 2012)
Maturation: Primary - Bourbon cask (a guess). Secondary - Pedro Ximénez cask (listed). Length of time for each unknown.
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Alcohol by Volume: 50.7%
Cask #: 1052
Bottle count: 258
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Coloring? No
(Sample purchased from the old whiskysamples.eu 😢)

NOTES

Wave after wave of seaweed and bonfire smoke roll up from the glass, then band-aids and sturdy shitkickers. The enormous nose continues with chocolate, mint, soil, peaches and almond extract. The palate begins similarly with dense herbal peat and bitter smoke. A little bit of grape jam and a lot of orange creamsicle. It has that, er, "hops" note so prevalent in the 21yo Authenticas. More savoriness, dried herbs and limes arrive with time. That herbal peat and smoke meet up sweet limes and oranges in the finish, followed by subtler notes of plums and nutty sherry.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Much gigundous fabulosity. More words? It seems like an old Laphroaig in the nose, then becomes pure well-aged peated Benriach in the palate with an excellent balance that continues on into the finish. After being fully engaged with the experience during the tasting and as the finish continued on and on, I pondered how exactly this was crafted, and why a result of this quality isn't seen more often. I hold no illusions that it is easy to create a whisky like this, but it is possible. There is a path. And finding gems like these make this whole whisky diversion worthwhile. More please.

Availability - Sold out long ago
Pricing - ???
Rating - 91

Benriach 25 year old, 46.8%abv edition

Yet another tale of a whisky I was going to buy blindly as a self-treat, then hesitated, only to watch the price rise and the ABV dip. Normally I wouldn't seek out a whisky with a sizable portion of virgin oak maturation, but I've been a big fan of Benriach's cask management and blending teams. Well, at least when they were under Billy Walker's management. The Brown-Forman era has yielded mixed results. The first round of cask strength releases were disappointing, but the 12 year old Sherry Wood was a very positive surprise. Yet those whiskies are babies compared to this 25-year-old. So I don't know what to expect. I'm not a complete pessimist, I do hope this is very good so I can issue forth with PG-rated self abuse.

Distillery: Benriach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company (Brown-Forman)
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Age: at least 25 years

Maturation: sherry casks, bourbon casks and virgin oak casks

Alcohol by Volume: 46.8%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? No
(from a bottle split)

NEAT
The nose begins with fresh peaches and nectarines, marasca syrup and amaretto. Then there's toffee pudding, vanilla fudge and musty old oak staves. A bit more heat to it than expected. Balancing out the palate's malty and fruity (lemons, limes and cherry lollipops) sweetness, are mild umami and salty waves. Smaller notes of ginger beer and musty casks in the background. Tart citrus and a zesty bitterness build with time. Tart citrus and toffee leadoff the finish. Later on there are notes of marshmallow fluff and roasted almonds.

DILUTED TO ~43%abv, or ½ tbl of water per 30mL whisky
No you don't want to do this. It's Tannin City.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Though this unpeated Benriach 25yo does not blast into the stratosphere like the peated 25yo, it's a very pleasant drinker with good balance and a little bit of complexity (when neat). And I'm not even going to complain about the price. "The hell you say," you say. Yes. It's on the lower pricing end of official 25 year old single malts and arrives with (possibly) the highest ABV of them all. If you do own a bottle, I recommend keeping its contents neat and enjoying it during the springtime.

Availability - Many European and American specialty retailers
Pricing - Europe: $175-$225; USA: $300-$400 (sad trombone)
Rating - 87 (neat)

Benrinnes 15 year old Flora & Fauna (bottled 2017)

And then there was Benrinnes. From 1974 until 2007, Benrinnes shared some similarities with its Diageo stablemate Mortlach. It had an unorthodox distillation process that resulted in more than two passes through the stills, resulting in a meaty and occasionally sulfurous malt that often found a popular home in sherry casks. As with Mortlach, Benrinnes can be quite lovely when aged in bourbon casks, where it ditches some of the darkness for a good dose of fruit. This Flora & Fauna, though, is 100% sherry cask. Which brings back to the first sentence. And then there was Benrinnes.

Distillery: Benrinnes
Region: Speyside (Moray)
Ownership: Diageo
Range: Flora and Fauna
Age: at least 15 years
Maturation: sherry casks
Bottling date: 2017
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
Chillfiltered? Yes
Caramel Colorant? Yes

NOTES
The nose is earthy and leafy with a bit of dunnage, something toasty, some wildflowers, a wet dog, maybe some limes and a lot of French onion soup. The palate makes less sense than the nose. There's plastic, sugar, burnt veg, generic tanginess, something industrial, plenty of umami and a Vegemite sandwich. The finish is similar to the palate with more metallic sulphur, umami and smoke. And a Vegemite sandwich.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
With a dirty-spirit-meets-dirty-casks style, this Benrinnes gets points for being its own ogre. It's plenty weird and none of the characteristics work together. It's less of a piece of industrial art and more like a watery puddle of robot vomit. It's also better than the Auchroisk. I don't understand it either. I think I'm done with the Flora & Fauna series forever.

Availability - Europe
Pricing - $50-$70, ex VAT
Rating - 72 (maybe, I don't know)

Blair Athol 12 year old Flora & Fauna (bottled 2016)

I'm not sure if it's a comfort or just a curiosity that Diageo does not ladle on the e150a to make sure all of their whiskies have the same orange tint. Here are this week's three F&Fs:

First on the left, Auchroisk came from ex-bourbon casks, or at least the refill-est of refill casks. The second two each had a large percentage of sherry casks in the mix, so they are color-coded correctly.

Today I'm reviewing the item in the middle, a single malt from the other Pitlochry distillery, Blair Athol. Most famous as the main malt ingredient in Bell's blended whisky, Blair Athol has also gained some notice for how well the spirit takes to sherry casks, thanks to countless single casks from Signatory and the Laings. Since I cursed Monday's review with the way I ended its intro, I'll just say this 12 year old sounds like it has the potential to be a decent regular release.

Distillery: Blair Athol
Region: Highlands (Pitlochry)
Ownership: Diageo
Range: Flora and Fauna
Age: at least 12 years
Maturation: at least partially made up of sherry casks
Bottling date: 2016
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
Chillfiltered? Yes
Caramel Colorant? Yes

NOTES
The nose begins with nutty Oloroso, dry Marsala and a hint of flower blossoms. It gets nuttier with time and picks up bits of chocolate and prunes. The palate starts off savory and lightly sweet. Grilled or smoked peppers. Hints of grape jam and hops (not a bad combo actually). A soapy note appears at the beginning, dissipates, then returns in later sips. It all gets sweeter with time. Salt, pepper and smoked almonds in the finish. Hops (good) and cardboard (less than good).

WORDS WORDS WORDS
With its classic sherried malt elements, this Blair Athol would mostly serve as a comfy, unchallenging 12-year-old whisky. Mostly. Two elements jostle it out of that category. So potent was the soap note that I changed glassware to make sure it wasn't a glencairn issue. But it wasn't the glass. As noted above, the soap character waxed and waned and waxed again. A nice crisp hoppy note pulls it the opposite direction, almost saving and elevating the whisky. It's too bad the finish flops, as it leaves us with something that is much better than the F&F Auchroisk but falls short of the Dailuaine.

Availability - Europe
Pricing - $50-$70 (ex VAT) in Europe
Rating - 78

Auchroisk 10 year old Flora & Fauna (bottled 2015)

After a week of old stuff and a week of new stuff it's time for a week of something in between. This is the kind of week when no one reads a single post. As opposed to every other week. But that's all good because these Flora & Faunas aren't going to review themselves.

I had thought the Columbus Scotch Night event with these whiskies was a few months ago. Alas it was last July. Time passes oddly on.

I'll review these in the above order, except for the Dailuaine. Before this tasting begins, I proclaim Dailuaine as my favorite F&F, the only one that I have ever bought or ever will buy. Here's my previous review of that whisky, and I still stand by it. If Diageo bottled it at 46% and made it a part of their regular rotation Dailuaine would become the new hotness.

But enough about that one. It's time for some Aw-throosk (not, Oh-Chroysk). I've reviewed seven Auchroisks before today, all of which were good to excellent. Haven't had a stinker. Yet.

Distillery: Auchroisk
Region: Speyside (Central)
Ownership: Diageo
Range: Flora and Fauna
Age: at least 10 years
Maturation: ???
Bottling date: 2015
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
Chillfiltered? Yes
Caramel Colorant? Some, but not much

NOTES
The nose is a hot mess, full of butter, perfume, sweaty socks, confectioner's sugar and soap. After more than 20 minutes in the glass it gets slightly bready, but it's mostly butter and leaves. The palate is peppery, buttery and floral. Hot cereal, sugar and notebook paper.  The finish matches the palate, but swaps white vinegar for the paper.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I'll be honest, this whisky is kinda crap.

Actually I'll start over. It's admirable that Diageo bottled such an uncommercial spirit-forward single malt. But it's kinda crap. Yes, "kinda" is a qualifier. It could be worse. I appreciate the nose's quirkiness and the lack of comfy, familiar single malt notes. The aggressive buttery note irks my senses more than the vinegar and perfume, perhaps it won't do the same for you. There's a par-baked feeling to the whisky, and I'd bet the new make is better than what was bottled here.

It was a slog getting through 2 ounces of this stuff, I can't imagine what fighting through an entire bottle would be like.

Availability - Mostly in Europe, but possibly a few bottles in the US
Pricing - $50-$60 (ex VAT) in Europe, north of $75 in the US
Rating - 71