Islay Odyssey - Day Six: Single Malt Scotch Westie

Hello! it's a Jubilee Special, folks... woof. 

A crack of dawn start and both Caskstrengthers are up, washed, coiffured and ready for the final day of the Feis - Ardbeg Day.  If this was a music festival, it would be 'Islay of Wight' and Ardbeg's open day would be the headlining act; everyone piling down to this quirky south shore distillery to see just how mad the events are and what the distillery staff are wearing (last year, it was flamenco gear)

Eminem...or Mickey H?

This time around, what with some 'other'  low-key sporting event happening somewhere in the south of England the theme of the Ardbeg open day is sports related and everyone is decked out in tracksuits, trainers and sweatbands - with the 'Daley Thompson' of Ardbeg, Mr Mickey Heads himself (aka Mr H)  wearing a huge bling'y gold chain.

The Olympic-themed day had its very own opening ceremony, with the crowds invited to group together under their nation's flags:  Ridley was the proud bearer of the Cross Of St George, with 20-or-so English folks following behind. Alas, the same cannot be said for Harrison.  Carrying the flag of Norway (his other home nation) he failed to attract any Norwegian visitors, despite loudly bragging that 'we've got all the oil'.  Eventually he found some friends and the parade of nations could begin in earnest, to the strains of The Proclaimers- I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Ardbeg have always excelled at bringing in and entertaining the crowds during their open day and this year is no exception: Events ranging from sheep tossing, canine racing, (using long bungee cords and dog suits) to cask end discus a cracking 70's rock cover band and acrobatic display team.  What's not to like about that?

But of course, the whiskies on offer need to be as top notch as the entertainment and this year the masterclasses, also themed with sporting titles were excellent.  Bryony MacIntyre was back from her new exciting role in the blending labs to host a great tasting - Bryony's Phenolic Gymnastics, which demonstrated the peating levels in several expressions: Ardbeg Kildalton Four Year Old - 2008 - 60.8% (still work in progress, but full of light buttery character, fresh zesty fruits and bags of vanilla) Alligator, The Ardbeg Day festival bottling (which we reviewed here) and a new single cask sample from 2002 in first fill bourbon 57.8% (with superb soft 70's style peat, charcoal/BBQ notes and vanilla custard)

Mickey's tasting also had a superb cask sample from 1998, matured in refill sherry - perhaps one of the best examples of whisky from the modern day era of Ardbeg and hopefully destined to see the light as a single cask in the future (please)

There was a little chatter about the (not-so-secret) Galileo bottling from 1999 -  matured in wine (Marsala?) We hope to bring you more news as it comes.

The closing medals ceremony saw the various event champions awarded gold, silver and bronze - amazingly the lovely Cat from Master Of Malt and our good friend Eugene Van der Meer winning the raffle prizes of some classic Ardbeg expressions and a giant sized 4.5 litre bottle of the festival bottling (looking like a normal sized bottle in Eugene's hands!)





Altogether, a thoroughly superb way to end the Feis and once again setting the bar high for next year's festival.

Islay Odyssey - Day Five: Des Lynham's Time Travelling Swedish Mercedes

So little time! It's hard to believe that our time on this great island is nearing an end already.  But Friday brings lots of places to visit and drams to catch up on.

Our first port of call is Bunnahabhain and their pier side open day.  Last year, the distillery open day was a little waterlogged and chilly, but not this time around.  Bathed in sunlight, the place looked exceptionally rustic, coupled with the mini highland games, laid out on the lawns to the back of the distillery.

Caskstrength opted for a little display of gentlemanly prowess by having a go at the caber tossing.  Not one to be outdone, Harrison threw first and made a total dog's dinner of the thing, with the angle of the fallen caber looking more like a badly pitched tent pole.  Ridley however used a fairly uncommon throw  based on similar principles to that of the Duckworth-Lewis Method, involving weather systems, trajectory and alcoholic beverage consumption.  It would prove to be a triumphant move and a despondent and defeated Harrison slunk off to find a consolation whisky.  Fortunately, a dram of Bunna' 18yo was located, alongside a tasty cup of freshly flash-fried local scallops.

Our time at the distillery was limited so we popped over to Bruichladdich for a catch up and a try of their  festival release, Nostalgia -   a big bold beast distilled in 1992 and matured in a Barolo cask, with rich dark fruity overtones and a touch of dryness.  


Our next whistle stop visit was over at Kilchoman for a little snack (soup of the day and a tuna roll always fix a hangover) and a dram of the new Machir Bay release.  This release has been buzzing amongst other Feis goers so we thought it high time we gave it a try.

Kilchoman - Machir Bay - NAS - 46%

Nose: Smoke and toasted marshmallow intertwined with hints of vanilla, elderflower and spearmint.

Palate: Delicate for a smoky whisky with cream cheese softness, underpinned with banana milkshake and smoke.

Finish: Warming, long and lingering with vanilla pods and spices.

Overall: One of the best whiskies we've tried on this trip, it belies its age and, at less than £40 a bottle, could well become a session whisky for peated single malt lover.

A short while later and feeling refreshed and revitalised, we decided to spend the evening exploring the island's rich history of illicit distillation, particularly retracing the long lost distilleries of the southern shore- all will be revealed in our next post! 

Islay Odyssey - Day Four: Too Much Goats Cheese, Not Enough Cow Bell

Wherever you are in the world, if the label on your bottle reads ‘Scotch Whisky’ then it must have been made and matured in some part of this wonderful country we call Scotland. Blended or Single Malt Scotch, the spirit in the bottle has made its way from, usually, a remote distillery, via a maturing cask and warehouse, all the way to your glass. From Manchester (UK or NH, USA) to Mumbai, this drink has been on journey and there are fewer places in Scotland where this journey is harder and longer than from the Isle of Jura.  

Just across the Sound of Jura, a fast-flowing strait which separates Islay from its next-door-neighbour, and opposite Caol Ila and Bunnahabain, Jura is home to less than 200 people, boasting one hotel, one pub and one distillery, which makes the unsurprisingly named Jura single malt whisky and was going to be our main destination for the day.

As we set off in the wagon which has become our home, from our base on the southern side of Islay, we weaved through Bowmore and onwards towards Port Askaig to the Jura ferry. As is tradition on Islay, especially during the festival, three empty seats in car can usually be filled with any waif-and-stray who has the gumption to wave their thumb at you as you pass. Last year, this bought Neil a dose of good luck after kissing a German chimney sweep (read about it here) we had given a lift to, along with her boyfriend, sporting the now famous Ardbeg tattoo.

Well, blow me down (which literally happened last year) if, as we passed up the road from Bridgend towards the ferry, did we see two thumbs waving in the air, looking for a lift to Jura. As we slammed on the breaks of our ‘Japanese Mercedes’, it was only the bloody chimney sweep and her partner whom we picked up almost one year ago, to the day. It seem the good luck isn’t just with the giver of the kiss, but the recipient, too... either that, or Neil’s kisses are magical. Certainly something the soon-to-be mum, Mrs. Ridley can testify too, no-doubt!

Arriving at Port Askaig we joined the queue for the ferry, nestled up behind Jim from The Whisky Boys blog (one of our favs) the ferry over to Jura is, well, small at best. Squeezing on (at the first attempt) we took the 14 min ride across the Sound to head over to the distillery. The road is long and winding, scattered with wildlife such as deer and long-horned Highland cattle which, along with the views back to Islay, make this one of the most stunning drives I’ve ever done; the rolling Paps of Jura to one side, cloud clinging to them like dust on old bottles of wine while the beautiful whisky isle sits proudly on the other.

As we pulled up at the distillery, honking crowds out of the way who were gathered around Master Blender Richard Paterson, delivering what seemed, judging by his passionate body language and the undivided attention of the gathered masses, yet another of his wonderful presentations on the subject of Scotch, we eventually found a cheeky parking space, ready to go and explore.

The island was buzzing with people and, having visited a couple of times before but never taken a tour of the facilities, we jumped at the chance to look around, not least to get away from the elephant-sized midges, devouring us with more relish than Heinz.

After a recent make-over, the place looks fantastic, especially the Still House with four large stills working away, churning out what will become either one of the core range (Original 10 Years Old, Superstition, Diurachs Own 16 Years Old , Prophecy) or something a little more boutique / vintage.

As you tour the facility, it is hard to not forget the journey taken to get here. Not only does one have to get to Islay, but onward on a tiny car ferry to Jura itself and then a long, winding road down to the distillery. This is the very same adventure by which all the constituent parts (except the water) have taken to allow the chaps at Jura distillery to make their spirit. Once every drop of the liquid is produced, matured on the island or otherwise, it too must take this long journey back, before it ends up bottled, sealed and shipped off around the world.

This is one of the great things about single malt Scotch whisky; it is not some clear, flavourless hooch, claiming to be made by some Russian or Polish distiller, when really it was churned out of a factory-grade column still at high speed in a location deemed easy for (inter)national distribution by the brand-owner, probably in the country your sitting in right now, or at least one adjacent to it. Of course, every single malt for sale has had a magnifying glass held over its heritage and story by some marketing executive somewhere but, at the end of the day, the facts still remain the same: hidden away in rural Speyside or located on an island off the coast of Scotland, the whisky in your glass has a genuine and real story to tell. It has worked as hard as you have to get to you, so should make the perfect companion to your down-time at home.

Having taken some time to look around the distillery, we found ourselves in the filling store as our group was given a lesson in maturation from the man himself, Richard Paterson. Those of you who have been privileged enough to see @the_nose speak on whisky will know how passionate and enthusiastic he is about the industry in which he has spent over 40 years working (for the same company, no less). Holding court to an audience of around forty or so (and that was just one ‘batch’ in a long line that day), Richard brilliantly explained the different regions of whisky production in Scotland (at one point commenting how the Mull of Kintyre “probably looks a lot like Joel’s penis”) before moving on to cask development and maturation.

At the end of the presentation, three cask samples were presented for nosing; a 1999, 2003 and 2004. Richard requested that everyone on a Jura tour over the open day vote on which cask they liked the best. The winning cask will then go on to be bottled. We were split on our choice with Neil going for the 2004 and myself, the 1999.

Heading back to Islay, the evening was taken up with a fabulous dinner cooked for us by the chaps (and chapesse) at Master Of Malt, who themselves had been around the island all week visiting distilleries and keeping a blog of their own about their exploits. One of the many bottles they had managed to pick up during the week was the very limited edition Bowmore festival offering from 1985.

Bowmore – 1985 – Feis Ile bottling – 200 bottles only - 53% abv

Nose: Strong sherry with elements of some tropic fruit (classic Bowmore) but a greater element of stewed prunes and dates with a dusting of sugar.

Palate: Rich fruit cake, strong rum and sugars is underpinned with a delicate smoky bite and then those classic Bowmore tropical fruits again, followed by coffee crèmes.

Finish: Strong and Long with delicate smoke.

Overall: This was universally liked in the room but for the price we all seemed to feel it was a touch expensive at £350.

The evening drew to a close with some wonderful drams (both from Islay and other areas of Scotland) while watching the sunset over the western coast of the island. All-in-all, a really wonderful day.

Islay Odyssey - Day Three: "Was There 2-4-1 On Wacky Glasses At The Shop?"

After the excess delivered to us in the form of the Ultimate Islay tour yesterday, Wednesday proved to be a much gentler affair. Helped by the fact clouds had come rolling in from the Atlantic to return Islay from a sun-drenched paradise back to a state we were much more familiar with, thankfully it was a slow and relaxed start to the day.

Having penned yesterday’s exploits, we jumped in the Caskstrength wagon to head for Bowmore, who host their open day each Wednesday during Feis Ile for our second booked-in event of the festival and one that did not involve just whisky...

Arriving in the Island’s capital to the sound of bagpipes wafting through the air, we were soon to be sitting down awaiting the start of our first tasting of the day (if you ignore the cheeky dram of Port Ellen 11th release before leaving the house), Bowmore Ale and Whisky Matching.

Hosted brilliantly by Jeremy Stephens and Mark O’Hara who both work in the blending labs of Morrison Bowmore, putting together such whiskies as Auchentoshan, Glen Garioch and Bowmore itself, Jeremy Stephens is an ex-brewery worker, having cut his teeth for several years at Fullers in London before moving in to malt production, whisky production and finally into the blending lab. All this experience gives him the ideal skill-set to be able to lecture with poise and authority on both brewing, in a purer, real ale sense and the onward stage of distillation and maturation that gives us the product we so love today: whisky.

Starting with an overview of the processes behind making beer (pretty much the same except that anything that ends up as ‘beer’ tends to have hops added, anything that goes on to be whisky doesn’t) on to distillation and finally maturation.

Once the technical stuff was out the way (peppered with questions from the Caskstrength crew about bottle conditioned ales, brewing malts and keeping / storing real ale) it was in the juice itself.

The idea was simple; matching an ale with a whisky and looking at the flavour comparisons between the two. We’ve done various different ‘matching’ tastings before, but this was something entirely new to us. The big question is, would it work?

We kicked off with a beer that has been specially produced for Bowmore by the chaps down at Islay Ales. Much as with the rolls from yesterday’s picnic made using Lagavulin grist, Islay ales have used the grist from Bowmore to brew their beer and then matured it in an ex-bourbon barrel previously used to house Bowmore whisky. A very smoky affair, as you would expect, this ale weighed in a 7.7% abv and was, aside the peaty element and high alcohol content, a light ale.

 

Bowmore & Islay Ales – Bourbon Cask Ale – Feis Ile 2012 – 7.7% abv

Nose: Hoppy and malty with vanilla tones and a hint of smoke

Palate: Huge hit of malt and smoke with stewed prunes and chocolate over tones.

Finish: Smoke and Malt

Overall: Tasty, but you couldn’t drink a whole lot of it.

This ale was cleverly paired with a bourbon matured whisky, the Bowmore Tempest Batch 2. We’ve reviewed this before (in fact, the Tempest Batch 1 made our BiG award shortlist in 2010) and it has to be said it really is a fantastic whisky (notes of which can be found here) and this tasting highlighted that fact to us once again. As a pairing with the ale, it was excellent and worked very, very well.

Onwards to the next whisky and beer couple; the Maltman’s Selection and the Nerabus offering from Islay ales. The Maltman’s Selection is a whisky that has picked up a few awards recently, not least the Best Islay Single Malt Whisky in the World Whisky Awards 2012.

 

Bowmore - Maltman’s Selection - 54.6% - NAS

Nose: big rich notes of coffee, chocolate, cherries, burnt oranges and sherbet.

Palate: Huge. Sherry mixes with more cherries, chocolate ice cream, menthol,
Black Forest gateaux and orange, with perhaps a touch of sulphur on the back, but
only a whisker.

Finish: lingering notes of steeped cherries, chocolate and chocolate malt.

Overall: A big feisty sherry monster, but with more character than you would expect, other than the robust wine notes.  Cracking.


The ale which was chosen to accompany this was the Nerabus, a beer made using pale, dark crystal, caramalt, chocolate and wheat malts giving the ale a rich, dark colour and intense taste, much like a heavily sherried whisky, hence the pairing.

 

Nerabus - Islay Ales - 4.8% abv

Nose: very little with some wafts of burnt sugar.

Plate: Dark chocolate, truffles, pine nuts, the depth and intesity of flavour found in the richness of sherry or port underpinned with a marmite maltiness.

Finish: Meaty bovril tones.

Overall: Very drinkable for a ‘winter warmer’ ale.

Throughout the presentation we were supplied with different samples of hops and malts, all of which were used very well to highlight the major areas of production in the beers and the whiskies.

 

As you can see from this picture, there was a real similarity in colour between the ales and their whisky counterparts and the tasting overall was not only educational but fun and the pairings worked a treat. 

 

Afterwards, we made an unusual purchase at the local Spa shop (all will be ‘revealed’ later), where we bumped in to two of the gang from Master Of Malt who were both on the island for the first time, and headed back to Port Ellen for a catch up with the guys and gals at Ardbeg. 

Another cheeky dram of the Ardbeg Day washed down nicely, alongside a glass of Alligator and two bottles of this now hard to find whisky were purchased (Alligator is perhaps our favourite Ardbeg expression from the past few years) it was time to head home and prepare for the evenings entertainment...

 

With barely 30 mins to spruce ourselves up for a dinner held at Lagavulin’s Malt Mill. Old friends from Maltstock, Feis Ile and, of course, London town were there to share in some fantastic food and excellent drams. 

Along with cask samples and rare bottles, one whisky which has been appearing in Lagavulin tasting across the week and is something very special indeed to be released later this year, we were lucky enough to try:

Lagavulin - 21 Years Old - Preview Sample - 52%

Nose: Elegant, with some candied red apple, vanilla, some light summer fruits, then a waft of fragrant candle wax, marzipan and the classic Lagavulin carbolic soap note.  Balanced and very aromatic.

Palate: Sweet, with over-ripe apples, some drying oak notes, a touch of sweet vanilla sugar and some lemon zest, before the smoke kicks in - nothing too dominant, but inkeeping with the classic 16 year old.  

Finish: Lingering notes of red apple skin, dark chocolate, slightly bitter burnt caramel and medicinal peat.

Overall: Certainly THE bottle to look out for when it arrives later on this year, given the near mythical status of the previous 21 year old.  Keep ‘em peeled folks!

Tomorrow we head off to Jura and Kilchoman, so keep your eyes peeled for our post tomorrow!

Islay Odyssey - Day Two: No Joel, This Isn't The Bar We're Looking For - It's The Job Centre

Well here we are well rested and safely ensconced on Islay. Despite the long drive up, there really is no other way to travel over to this glorious isle. Our previous Campbeltown adventure culminated in us already being weighed down with no less than TEN purchases so the car made a reassuring, yet slightly alarming clatter as we pulled away from the Port Askaig ferry terminal to the strains of our 'Now That's What I Call Islay' -  Volume 4. Fresh in our memory was the superb discovery of the Ardshiel Hotel in Campbeltown, home to a great newly refurbished whisky bar with around 1000 bottles of single malt.
Richard Paterson had recently been in to do a tasting and the owners were thrilled that the bar is gathering a real buzz about it.  We elected to have dinner there accompanied by a tasting flight of local drams selected by the bartender Neil MacKinnon.  And what a flight.  Starting with a highly surprising Glengyle Work In Progress 3 (aged around six years old and already packing a rich flavour and plenty of promise for the next few years) we then enjoyed a rich, syrupy and sweet Glen Scotia 12 year old (which paired well with a home made steak pie). To finish, a Springbank 10 year old rounded out what highlights a vibrant and very distinct region of whisky making, which if you haven't already, should be visited at your earliest convenience.

Pulling in to Port Askaig, we were very much now on a mission. With the new (when does it stop being ‘new’) CalMac ferry ‘Finlaggan’ in our rear-view mirror, the full force of the ‘Japanese Mercedes’ powered us down the road to our first port of call, Lagavulin Distillery.

Greeted by the always affable distillery manager Georgie Crawford, we were booked on to the grandly named ‘Ultimate Islay Tour’ which promised unique access to the three Daigeo-owned sites on the island: Lagavulin, the Port Ellen Maltings and Caol Ila Distillery-  All for the princely sum of £240. That might seem like a lot of money, and it is, but included in the price is transport around the island, a picnic lunch (more on that later), plenty of rare and hard-to-find whisky and both the now-sold-out (and already on eBay *sigh*) Lagavulin Feis Ile bottling and the sister Feis Ile release from Caol Ila, hosted by Classic Malts Ambassador Donald Colville.


The tour was designed to show previously off-limits areas around the facilities and our first treat was a trip up the stairs to the long since abandoned Lagavulin malting floors, which lay untouched since the 1970's. The old malt bins and bits of machinery were still there, giving us an idea of how far this now powerhouse-of-a-distillery had come in the last 40 years.   The view from the stone staircase over the bay was probably worth the entry price alone.  Georgie then escorted us to the dunnage warehouses and regaled us with stories of the distillery in the 70's, showing us some rather exciting casks in the process, including the one below:

The story goes that Iain McArthur discovered cask 12162 in the warehouse and remembered it as a significant vessel from his time working at Port Ellen. In fact, it was known as the 'remnant cask', where it was used to store the remaining liquid from every single Port Ellen spirit run from 1967-1983!  So a pretty significant and historical piece of wood indeed.

The cask now holds a ten year old Lagavulin from 2002, which Georgie drew some samples of for us to try. Clearly the cask was chosen back in the day for its neutrality and the Lagavulin retains a lot of its spirit character, alongside some wonderful cream soda notes. Our next dram was a 1966 Lagavulin from cask 552 (which we tried during a previous Feis Ile trip) and the setting for the tasting was the wonderful Lagavulin castle ruins, the fresh sea air making the dram taste even better in our opinion.

After our hit of history from Ms Crawford, we were to head to one of the newer sites on the island, Port Ellen Maltings. Built at the end of the 1970’s / start of the 1980’s, the Port Ellen Maltings worked alongside the now much loved and dearly departed Port Ellen distillery for three years before the spirit-producing side was decommissioned in 1983.  Now a huge factory churning out malt for several of the island's distilleries, we were to be given a tour by (the brilliantly named) Ramsay Borthwick, who had taken over as the maltings manager just a week before, having previously been site operations manager at Talisker.

Reinstalled at the site is the old wooden marrying vessel from Port Ellen distillery, in which every single drop of Port Ellen was stored before being siphoned off for filling. The tap (seen in the picture on the right) has had pretty much every drop of PE ever made pass through it at some stage. Nice.

Onwards and upwards the tour progressed with Ramsay doing a fantastic job of explaining a very complex and highly scientific malting process, through the medium of 'chocolate'. (The outer layer of the chocolate bar being the barley husk and the squares inside the starch molecules) What’s not to like about that?! All in, this one of the most comprehensive tours of maltings I have been on and to say I learnt a lot would be an understatement. It almost required a mini-graduation ceremony at the conclusion of the tour. *applause*

From Port Ellen, we were bundled in to our people carriers and carted off to the peat bogs to meet the legend that is Iain McArthur. After a picnic lunch of rolls made from the grist (flour) at Lagavulin (ergo, giving a sweet and smoky nature to the fresh bread) filled with either locally smoked salmon / smoked venison, it was our turn to have a go at digging out some peat, all aided by a dram of Caol Ila 12 years old, unpeated.

As usual, Neil turned up in totally inappropriate footwear, stomping across the boggy ground in a what can only be described as a pair of plimsolls while everyone else around donned some form of Northface-esque foot attire. Watching him attempt to cut peat in such a get-up almost made the entire trip worthwhile...

Having suitably refreshed ourselves with rolls and drams, it was time to head onwards to the north of the island and up to Caol Ila, stopping firstly for a wee dram at their water source.

Climbing up to the (pretty depleted) loch, we were greeted by Caol Ila distillery manager Billy Stitchell with a rather odd looking decanter, something he’d grabbed from his office before coming out to meet us. It turned out to be the Caol Ila Flora & Fauna series bottling, a rather tasty 15 year old offering:

Caol Ila - 15 Year Old -  Flora & Fauna Series -  43%

Nose: Wow, this is highly unexpected.  Not at all like the modern era Caol Ila bottlings we're used to and perhaps more like Rosebank, if it happened to be lightly peated, or a younger Port Ellen.  Swirls of tropical fruit, mangos, sweet vanilla, butter, coconut and soft medicinal peat and chamois leather note. Absolutely superb. 

Palate:  The fruit continues on the palate, with some lighter notes of stewed plums, green apples and lemon zest, all underpinned with a delicate waft of peat.

Finish:  Lingering notes of syrup and apple.

Overall: Undoubtedly one of the finest Caol Ila's we've tried. Subtle, gentle, yet complex, this bottling is almost like a greatest hits of single malts.  

Having supped our dram while gazing out at where the water to make this fantastic whisky originally came from, we made our way down to the final destination for the day, Caol Ila distillery itself.

Arriving, we were treated to a tour of the distilleries newly expanded operations, with two huge new washbacks and one massive new mash tun, all aiding the increased production at this site which in-turn, will service the increased demand for whisky across the globe.

Ending up at the top of the distillery, (literally on the roof) it was time to try what we thought would be the last dram of the day (but boy, were we mistaken), the Caol Ila Feis Ile 2012 bottling:

Caol Ila – Feis Ile 2012 – Filled: 15/01/2001 – cask no 300897 – 60.4% abv – 70cl (around 620 bottles)

Nose: A huge hit of the classic coal dust smoke, followed by rich runny honey, some mint jelly, hot sand after rainfall and some red berries. With water the spiced fruit notes increase and the whisky takes on aromas of mincemeat.  

Palate: Hot and smoky, this gives off wafts of bacon frazzle crisps, meaty overtones of smoked haggis and sweet cure bacon. With water, the sherried nature of this comes to life with more vibrancy and colour to the palate. Really takes water well.

Finish: Long, lingering and smoky.

Overall: We both agreed that this is the best Caol Ila Feis Ile bottling to date with an excellent balance -  powerful, yet complex.

But- oh no... As everyone turned to leave, the sight of another three whiskies in Billy's office took us all by surprise.  The sound of jaws dropping could be heard as far away as the Islay Woollen Mill. Alongside the 2012 Lagavulin Feis Ile bottling sat  two final drams and perhaps the pinnacle of Islay whiskies in our humble opinion- Port Ellen annual release No.1 (which we reviewed last year and tasted equally as exquisite stood on the rooftop at Caol Ila) and the official bottling of Lagavulin 30 year old.  

Breathe deeply caskstrength...

Lagavulin - 2012 Feis Ile Release - 1998 - Cask 1716 - 55.1% 

Nose: Raspberry ripple ice cream, apple strudel and icing sugar.  Sweet, with the classic cream soda and carbolic soap underneath.

Palate: Vanilla notes, green apple, some chopped hazelnuts and a big hit of medicinal smoke.  Lighter than the 16yo, but slightly more complex than the 12yo.  

Finish: Lingering orchard fruit and a sooty peat smoke.

Overall:  We were divided over whether this was better than the Caol Ila, with Joel preferring it, but Neil feeling the spiciness and fruit of the Caol Ila tipped the balance in its favour.

Lagavulin - 30 years Old - Distilled 1976 -  52.6%

Nose: Candied fruit, tinned peaches, chamois leather, lemon meringue pie, lavender and a hint of Parma Violets.  The smoke is restrained, gentle and super subtle, with just a caressing waft of the classic Lagavulin carbolic soap. Truly astonishing.

Palate: This is where it gets really serious. Coconut, more lavender, light vanilla stewed fruit (rhubarb, strawberry and raspberries) with an underpinning of American oak-influenced creaminess, this whisky just screams - no sorry - whispers perfection. The balance is extraordinary. 

Finish:  The fruit notes give way to more of the light peat and a touch of creamy maltiness for an extremely long finish indeed.

Overall: No doubt, the finest Lagavulin ever bottled.  This is one of those whiskies that demands the time, the company, the setting and your full attention and delivers more than you could ever hope for.  

Despite the relatively high face value of this tasting, if you break down the actual value and quality of the whisky tasted, the two festival bottlings, the unprecedented access to previously off-limits distillery areas and, more than anything, the time spent with the likes of Georgie, Billy, Ian and Ramsay for pretty much a whole day, this is undoubtedly cheaper than the sum of the parts if they were offered individually. As a result, it is one of the best tastings the festival has surely offered thus far.  Lord knows what they're planning for 2013.