Lagavulin 18 Year Fèis Ìle 2018
Whisky : Lagavulin 18 Year Fèis Ìle 2018
Country/Region : Scotland/Islay
ABV : 53.9%
Cask : Refill American Oak, Rejuvenated American Oak, Bodega European Oak Butts
Age : 18 Years
Nose : Salt, fruit, and asphalt. Salty ocean breezes, limoncello, and a freshly paved parking lot all came to mind right away. Tropical fruits faded into beach sand and sea shells as a minerality arrived with the smoke from a distant barbecue. Fruity sorbet of pineapple and grapefruit at a beach park. The wife added in “the underside of a boat.”
Palate : Medium bodied with a lovely soft citrus, salt, and barbecue smoke. Salty air and the smoke off a freshly lit bed of coals mingled with dried palm fronds and coconut husks. A lovely salty undercurrent road waves of shoreline beach-park detritus and left the impression of smoked salt and mellow grassy herbs.
Finish : Lingering tropical citrus and smoked salt.
Score : 7
Mental Image : Beachside BBQ under the Coco Palms.
Notes : I saved this dram for quite a while. It kept coming up to the front of my queue of things to try and then I would push it back waiting for a more special occasion. At the time of initial reviewing I was waist deep grading student exams and essays and so it seemed the perfect time for a something special to help pull me through the long hours of marking up student work on the computer.
This was just about everything you could want in a well-aged cask strength Lagavulin. I would offer that it bore a closer resemblance in terms of overall profile to the typical 12 Year Special Release than it does the 16 Year. While I know there were sherry casks used for this edition, they really hung in the background and if someone told me this was just refill bourbon hogsheads I would have believed it.
Overall, this was a solid Lagavulin with tons of delicious soft coastal notes. The wife was less impressed, though she did enjoy it, she reckoned it was maybe a bit too subtle and soft for her taste. She described it as less a beachside BBQ than the memory of the BBQ while eating leftovers the next day— still a fun time, but not the same as actually being there. This was a fine dram, but considering the bounty on Fèis Ìle bottles, there are better value options out there— the annual 12 Year Special Release stands out as a good one.
Image Credit : Global Whisky Auctions
