Lagavulin Single Malt Whisky




Lagavulin

Region	Islay
District	South Shore
Water source	Solan Lochs
Neighbours	Ardbeg, Laphroaig
Owner	Diageo
Manager	Graham Logie
Visitor centre	January to December: Monday to Friday, by appointment only. Admission price: Adults : £4.00 (This charge includes a discount voucher which is redeemable in the distillery shop towards the purchase of a 70cl bottle of single malt whisky) Children: free Please note that children under 8 years old are not admitted to the production areas.
Address	Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Argyll, PA42 7DZ
Phone	+44 (0)1496 302 730
Fax	+44 (0)1496 302 733
History	1742 : illicit distilling at Lagavulin 1816 : founded by John Johnston 1817 : Archibald Campbell founded a second distillery, which seems later to have traded under the name Ardmore 1825 : John Johnston takes over both distilleries 1924 : acquired by White Horse Distillers Ltd 1927 : acquired by DCL 1930 : SMD 1962 : renovated
House Style	Dry smokiness, with complexity through the phenols.
Information

DISTILLERY BOTTLINGS

	Lagavulin - 16 year old - 43% Chillfiltered. Cask: Bourbon. Colour: Deep amber gold. Nose: Intense peat smoke with iodine and seaweed and a rich, deep sweetness. Palate: Dry peat smoke fills the palate with a gentle but strong sweetness, followed by sea and salt with touches of wood. Finish: A long, elegant peat-filled finish with lots of salt and seaweed.
	Lagavulin - 30 year old - 52,6% Limited to 2340 bottles. Distilled in 1976. Cask: Refill American Oak. Colour: Bright amber. Nose: Unusual, and difficult to place if tasted blind; mature tropical melon-fruit and slightly dusty at first (warehouses, pipe tobacco). Then, fresh, clean soap, with traces of parma violet. After a while, rich roast chestnut and new vinyl. Water raises the vinyl note and introduces varnish, cedar and nut oil. In time this becomes wood oil and resin. “Like a distillation of the old warehouses at Lagavulin”. Palate: Slow to unfold (as befits its age) with real balance and length in time. Drinks very well at natural strength. Becomes increasingly smoky after a surprisingly sweet start; the smoke drifting above an apple and melon sweetness. Hints of dry spices (cumin), and Lagavulin’s familiar tar and then suddenly a hit of raspberry and rose. Biscuity. Less sweet with water, and there’s a distinct clove-like coolness. Finish: Very long, smouldering. Woody, and not so smoky in the end.
	Lagavulin 1990 - Distillers Edition - Double Matured - 43% Cask: Finish in ex-Pedro-Ximenez casks. Colour: Deep gold. Nose: Palate: Big flavour. Begins with sweetness, and ends with peat, smoke and hints of seaweed. Finish: Incredibly long even by Lagavulin standards, smooth and rounded, with waves of sandy dryness.
	Lagavulin 1990 - Limited Edition - 12 year old - 57,8% Released in 2006. Unchillfiltered. Colour: Very pale white wine. Nose: Palate: Sweet and fresh, then very smoky. Marshmallow, digestive biscuit, Assam tea. Finish: Billows smoke, Lagavulinª peatiness. Slight fruit. Warming and long.
	Lagavulin - Cask Strength Special Release- 12 year old - 57,6% A 2006 release of cask strength Lagavulin. Unchillfiltered. Colour: Pale straw gold. Moderate beading. Nose: Huge. Takes no prisoners. Fresh, breezy and intensely medicinal. Pungent and briny, yet sweet. Light fresh fish (sashimi), oilskins and fish oil. Edible seaweed. Later, when allowed to breath, some rich toffee notes. Palate: Huge and robust. Sweet, then immediately hot and smoky as the peat-smoke ignites. Typical of Lagavulin, shorn of the subtleties that come with age! Surprisingly fiery and warming, some salt (fish boxes, smoked haddock). Finish: Long, warming and cigar-smoky. Oatcakes.