56,4°
Distillery : Lagavulin - Islay
Refill American Oak Casks
Original Bottling
Limited Edition
Single Malt
Bottled in 2020
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength
Peated around 38 ppm
The 20th edition of Lagavulin's 12 yo cask strength has, like its predecessors, been matured in American casks, without any sherry influence. After the great success of Batch 2019, Master Blender Craig Wilson sought to reproduce a very similar formula by selecting the same casks. In fact, the Batch 2019 label shows an eagle perched on a branch, and the Batch 2020 label shows the same eagle taking flight. It's the logical continuation, the echo, even the clone of the previous edition. Of course, it would be interesting to try a Face to Face.
Let's Taste It :
Sea breeze, brackish water, peat pallets and honey pearls. Then the iodine rises gently, a bit of soot and at the same time, it's sweet, with icing sugar, genoise and almonds. Vanilla bean. With the addition of water, the fruits become more insistent, pear, yellow plum, all very juicy. Very well balanced. Occasionally a boggy note emerges, but this is well contained. The palate is suave, luscious and easy to drink, with hints of white nectarine and lemon pulp. A touch of vanilla. Sparse spices, cumin, peat and iodine in the background. Sea salt. Warm. Light finish, but long, honeyed, puffed rice grains, corn, wheat germ, dry earth under a blazing sun. Gravel.
In Short,
How elegant, how cute. It's very sweet, very cup of tea drunk with the little finger in the air, very old England. But that's not what we're looking for when we taste the 12 year old cask strength, we want dirty, rocky, boggy, grounchy, brutal peat. Well, when I say "we", I mean me, of course. Many have enjoyed this bottling without reservation, as to me I found it lacking a little wildness, a little excess. However, I'm admiring the result: it's a monster of balance and complexity, very complete, very varied, with the distillery's typical hallmarks. The price has gone up again for this edition, which is unpleasant. We're reaching a point where the price/quality ratio is no longer to our advantage.
Score : 89
To Be Listened While Sipping :
Pearl Jam - Black
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