Tasting notes. Angus: www.whiskyfun.com (90 points)
Nose: some kind of salty leather with salted liquorice, seaweed and some pretty potent notes of germoline, floor cleaner and brake fluid. Feels quite powerful. Cured ham, brine, green olives and fresh lemon juice. An almost crystalline peat that gives it this blade like, precise and pure quality. With water: lime zest, crisp smoked cereals and some grassy olive oil.
Palate: Crispy fish skin, peppered mackerel, smoked grist, more brine and lots of grilled oysters and seawater. Some salted almonds, tar resin and smoky bacon crisps. With water: hessian, squid ink, lemon throat lozenges and bonfire ash. Gets rather tarry and creosotey with notes of naphthalene after a while.
Finish: Long, ashy, earthy, warming and with a big, lingering fug of boiler smoke, kippers and bonfire smoke. Comments: It’s not the best Lagavulin festival release but it’s still superb Islay whisky and a spot on Lagavulin. I find this one a little straightforward and pretty punchy but emphatic and satisfying all the same. Feels stronger than 53.9%. Works well with water.