Whisky: Lagg 3 Year (2019) Cask LG19/1795 Distillery Handfill

Country/Region: Scotland/Islands

ABV: 61.7%

Cask: 2nd Fill Sherry Hogshead

Age: 3 Years (Distilled 2019, Bottled 2023)

Nose: Ash and smoldering pine, tarry ropes, roadwork, creosote, minerals and dried grass, hints of animals and Christmas spice.

Palate: Medium-bodied with toasted herbs, Christmas spice, burning pice, asphalt, cigarette butts, dried grass, citrus with hints of animal, coffee, roadwork.

Finish: Medium to long with white pepper, Christmas spices, and charred wood.

Score: 6-7 (79)

Mental Image: Llama Roadwork Crew

Narrative & Notes: Fire and ash, the aroma of a chimney with smoldering pine logs and a touch of mesquite wood. Tarry ropes and acrid creosote from nearby roadworks sizzled the sinuses with hot asphalt. Dissolved minerals, dried grass, and musty-earthy, slightly funky, zoo animals developed in the background as more industrial solvent and cleaning solutions arrived with time. Medium-bodied, toasted herbs and Christmas spices intermingled with ash, burning pine, and hints of acrid asphalt.  Youthful and peppery, especially on the back end, with cigarette butts, menthol, and dried grass.  Charred citrus and mild earthy zoo animal funk pushed in between gingerbread lattes and roadwork.  The finish was medium to long with white pepper, Christmas spices, and charred wood.

This sat right on the boundary of average and good for me— it was interesting and novel, so I wanted to round up a bit further; I also own a bottle and who doesn’t want to love the things they spent time and money acquiring. I enjoyed this quite a bit, but perhaps more as a preview of things to come than a whisky in its own right.  It was lovely, but a touch too young and raw to really sit back and sip— those road work, tar, and hot tire qualities were strong and mouth coating.

I brought this to a tasting earlier this year, and as a post-tasting dram it proved very popular— little wonder as its bold profile helped punch through to tickle even fatigued palates. Several attendees thought it was a Lagavulin and were surprised to find out about the existence of Lagg on the Isle of Arran— definitely nothing like its sister over in Lochranza.

Overall, a solid whisky— I cannot wait to see how the casks at Lagg mature in the coming decades.