Lagavulin 8 Year Old

When I first tasted the Lagavulin 8 Year Old in 2016, it was still a limited edition to celebrate the distillery's 200th anniversary, but today it's just part of the core range. Thanks to my buddy Pat, I came into possession of a sample of a recent bottling, namely from 2021. Let's see if he can still charm me. The nose is sweet on vanilla, marshmallow and even some cotton candy. This is immediately and without hesitation counterbalanced by maritime notes of tar, oysters, kelp and a large cloud of peat smoke. On the palate it is the other way around: first the peat smoke, some sea salt and something from stockfish, before some white fruit and walnuts are noticed. Still a lot sweeter than I'm used to from Lagavulin. And what a light body this one has! Almost watery. Unfortunately. Laga Light, so to speak. And that might be a bit crazy if you know that it sits at 48%, because that is still 5% higher than the classic 16-year-old (which I will taste after this one). The finish is long, drying and a real struggle (thoughtful choice of words) between salty and sweet. A tad less pronounced than the previous batch I tasted. Nice, don't get me wrong, but I like the 16 much better. Thx, Pat!

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