Lagavulin 2019 Feis Ile Cask Strength 19 Year Old Single Malt Whisky 700ml 53.8%

Tasting notes. Angus: www.whiskyfun.com (90 points)

Nose: rather clean and full of rope, hessian, petrol and mineral oil at first. No great sherry influence up front but a sense of earthiness and some rather rooty peat notes. Hints of salted pistachio, Iberico ham, dried herbs, celery salt and cough medicine. Pretty good so far. With water: sea greens, white flowers, soot, smoked meats, pollens and black olive. Getting towards a rather classical Lagavulin style I’d say.
Palate: rather hot and full of toasted seeds and brown bread. Old rope, leather, hessian, ointments, cooking oils, scotch broth, iodine, lambic ales and heather smoke. There’s a kind of gingery sherry quality but it’s rather quiet and well-integrated – which is good news. Still very earthy and rather peppery as well. With water: some root vegetable notes amidst all the earthy tones, drying, herbal style peat, kelp, rope, ointments, dried apple rings and mushroom powder. Increasingly herbal, medical and drying with a lingering saltiness.
Finish: long, lots of peat embers, cured meats, salt baked fish, tar liqueur, ointments, herbal extracts and cough syrup. Comments: A very good whisky, although, considering the pedigree, you could almost argue it’s also a mild disappointment. Now, let’s remember we’re splitting hairs here to a pretty big degree. It’s just we’ve come to expect pretty serious things from these Feis Lagas.