Lagavulin 16 Years Old Distillers Edition 2014 43% 1998

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (88)

Another one that I’m always trying to follow.

Colour: dark gold.

Nose: it seems to me that the ‘DE’ got closer to the ‘16’ in style, with maybe a little less wine influence, and a general profile that would rather be on ‘the 16 plus oranges and a touch of maple syrup’. So it’s marginally more aromatic and rounder than the 16… Although, I have to say that after a few minutes, there’s rather more Havana tobacco and hay/farmyard that are coming through. But globally, as I had noticed with the 1997/2013, this baby rather got cleaner and straighter. Not that there’s anything to complain about, mind you.

Mouth: maybe a touch of gingery oak in the arrival, then this maelstrom of all things from the sea plus tobacco and bitter oranges. Some bitter chocolate too, a drop of crème de menthe and liquid tar, then herbal teas and more tobacco. Little sweetness from the PX, which is great. The body’s not huge.

Finish: long, appropriately bitter and tobacco-ish, with drops of seawater in the aftertaste. Plus pepper, quite a lot of it.