The distillery was founded back in 1816 when John Jonston and Archibald Campbell constructed two distilleries on a site located on the south coast of the island, one of them being Lagavulin and is believed to have taken over the other distillery in or around 1837.
Owned today by Diageo, this distillery has a massive following and is certainly very well received within the whisky circles.. The success has being such that the distillery now runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ( taking the covid pandemic out of the equation ) This still leaves the distillery with only a capacity to produce around 2.5 million litres of alcohol, I say only as 2.5 million litres is still an impressive amount of alcohol but not when there is such a global demand for the spirit..
The distillery like so many of Diageo’s distilleries matures within ex bourbon casks with each of its Scottish distilleries also producing a small amount of whisky matured within different sherry casks and some wine and other oddities that don’t always come to the forefront..
Todays expression is along the core line of lagavulin expressions and has been matured within Re fill Ex American oak casks..
2020 Lagavulin 12 year old – Special Release
Distillery.. Lagavulin
Region.. Islay
Age.. 12 years
Abv.. 56.4%
Casks.. Re fill American oak
Nose.. Smoke meanders softly around the fresh fruits and poached pears, gentle ashy notes rise with tropical fruits like pineapple and kiwi.. Add a gentle squeeze of oranges as the spray hits the senses and a soft ginger note that just about gets noticed.. Ok I am kidding, There’s nothing subtle about these notes, its a beast of a nose..
Palate.. Freshly peeled apples, pears and pineapple battle their way through the smoke and ashy notes that dominate this oily mouthfeel. A citrus bitterness plays itself off with ginger biscuits, Manuka honey brings in a sweetness as well as the earthy notes. Jaffa cakes, bounty bars and those fruit salad sweets we used to buy as kids also have a say within this whisky.
Finish.. Spices and drying smoke..
Thoughts.. Its Lagavulin, what more do i really need to say ????
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