Tasting Notes: Lagavulin: 10 Year Travel Exclusive

Lagavulin: 10 Year Travel Exclusive (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 10 Years: 43% ABV)

Visual: Deep, rich darkened gold. A mix of fast thick streaks come from the spirit followed by a slower thick second set.

Nose: Smoked beef slices. Mossy peat. Dry rice bags. Vanilla. Water adds grilled pineapple.

Body: Alcohol warmth and noticeable character. Dry vanilla cake sponge. Black pepper. Brown bread. Water adds grilled pineapple.

Finish: Dry rice. White chocolate. Toffee. Dry smoke. Black pepper. Grilled pineapple. Water gives moss. Alcohol air and dry toffee.

Conclusion: I have often (very, very often) said that the curse of Lagavulin is that the 16 year standard release is the best, and everything else is – while interesting, good and different, not actually as good or better.

Exceptions have come up very occasionally, but as a general rule of thumb the base 16 is so hard to beat. This however tests that rule, just not in the way you would expect. It tests it in that, unlike most Lagavulin, this is just kind of mediocre. Which is frankly quite shockingly low in quality for a Lagavulin, how do you do that?

It is not … bad, just so very meh. The aroma is actually pretty good – promising that Lagavulin smoked beef, peat and a medicinal touch, just delivered at a younger age. Even here though there are a few tells. There is a touch of dry rice, giving the impression of something just not quite as it should be.

The body is more noticeably alcohol touched despite the comparatively restrained 43% abv. It is a bit dry, quite peppery. You can tell it has a lot of bourbon influence as it shows a quite nice grilled pineapple touch that mixes the smoke and bourbon wood, but it seems to be mostly lacking that thicker body a Lagavulin should show. That lack of body lets the elements like the black pepper become too dominant rather than being rounding characteristics.

The Lagavulin 8 also lacked the weight of the 16, same as this does, but that at least felt distinct and different. This feels like the 16 but worse, lesser, letting the rougher edges show too much.

The best addition is the grilled pineapple I mentioned, which is such a nice balance between the main elements of this whisky, in a bigger whisky that note could be used to make something special. As is this is …. fine. Which is such a let down for a Lagavulin.

Background: A travel exclusive Lagavulin! I picked this up on the way home from Thailand holiday last year. Yes it has taken me this long to pull my thumb out and do notes. Don’t judge me. I nearly didn’t get it, my connection flight was altered so I had such short connection they didn’t even transfer my luggage so it had to be delivered to my home days later. However I had time, very quickly, to drop by duty free grab this and run. Travel exclusives can be very hit or miss, sometimes excellent, sometime any old crap that gets turned out to get some FOMO sales from bored travellers. However I have had an excellent hit rate with Lagavulin, probably my favourite distillery, so was feeling confident grabbing this. A mix of rejuvenated and first fill bourbon casks were used for ageing, so I was expecting quite the clean house character expression, and at a lower age of 10 years maybe more evident peat than normal. Music wise I went with Polyphia: Remember That You Will Die – complex layered music to go with what I hoped would be complex layered whisky.