Lagavulin 12 Years Old 14th release Special release 2014 54.4% NV

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (92)

Colour: white wine.

Nose: yes. ‘Sweet peat’ at first, then mercurochrome, seawater, new plastic (in the best sense), cider apples and roots. Turnips and gentian. What I call evident spirit – for lack of a better word. With water: a pile of fruits in a farmyard, not too far from he sea.

Mouth (neat): it’s metaspirit, it transcends the categories, you could try this along some great mezcal, pear eau-de-vie, white armagnac (blanche) or, indeed, alpine gentian. What I really love here is that it’s not about b****y wood. At all. Excuse me? Flavours? I’d say heavily smoked strawberries and pears, with a medicinal background and then rather grapefruits – on a bed of ashes. With water: gets easier to down, rather rounder, and a little more herbal, with pretty much the same herbal teas that we had found in the DE (please see above).

Finish: maybe not excessively long, but clean, smoky of course, herbal and limy.

Comments: everyone’s favourite, which gives you faith in humanity (oh S., shut up!)

Words of Whisky (88)