Lagavulin 12 Year Old Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky 2018

Nose:

At first fresh cleaned, with soft malt, then rapidly developing maritime scents of sweet seaweed alongside a sharper, fruitier note, with grainy cereals. Quite starchy, like boiled basmati rice, then later vanilla-sweet, like a sponge cake dusted with icing sugar. With time, the aromas open up, releasing spent match and a little menthol balanced by sugary fruits, lemon zest, and gradually some distant smoke. Soft, fruity and minty with water: the sweetness now is of barley sugar and there’s fresh-baked sourdough or damp wool beneath the background smokiness.

 

Palate:

A smooth, oily mouthfeel; surprisingly sweet, with coating liquorice and a rising, smoky pungency, before the dryness of rich chocolate arrives with balancing salt and smoke. Water amplifies all these flavours, delivering more sweetness, saltiness, smoke and ash; dusty notes mingle with sulphury smoke and clean, pine-fresh menthol and eucalyptus, while the tongue finds the tannins well formed.

 

Finish:

Easy-going, sweet and powerfully smoky. First there are those smoothly coating tannins. Then, salt and smoke; spent matches, clean slabs and charred embers; and a little orange oil. It’s sweetly appetising, warming and intensely smoky with water; clean, with cool smoke and wood ash.