Lagavulin 1991 Single Cask Whisky Review

lagavulin-1991_bottle-and-box

Image courtesy: Diageo

In 1816, Lagavulin began legally distilling whisky on Islay.  Two hundred years later, the distillery released three limited edition whiskies to celebrate their important bicentennial.  First a lovely 8-year-old Lagavulin hit the market, a ode to the whisky famed writer Alfred Bernard tasted when he visited the distillery in the late 1800s.  Then a tribute to Lagavulin’s distillery managers was bestowed among us, an exquisitely crafted 25-year-old Lagavulin that was matured exclusively in ex-sherry casks.  It turned out to be my favorite whisky of 2016.

Now, the third and final 200th anniversary release of Lagavulin is a single cask bottling, distilled in 1991.  It’s the rarest of the three releases, with only 522 bottles available.  It’s also the priciest, costing roughly $1860 a bottle.  The best part?  In a classy move, Lagavulin owner Diageo is donating all proceeds from this release to various Islay charities.

This Lagavulin bottling won’t be available in stores.  You have to head over to The Whiskey Exchange and sign up for a lottery by February 12th, so go there now if you’re interested.  Entrants will be picked randomly for a chance to buy a bottle. 

Still undecided?  Trust me, it’s a killer.  The nose on this cask strength beauty (52.7%) is full of juicy tropical fruit (especially pineapple), campfire smoke, toasted barley, and burnt orange peel, with hints of dried fruit and leather in the background. A little airtime reveals lovely toffee notes.  The palate is quite the stunning kaleidoscope of flavors.  An initial burst of citrus and brown sugar lend to slightly tame peat smoke, mulled wine, spice and some herbs.  “Beef brisket slow cooked over a wood fire” paints a rough picture.  Soon after, hints of leather, sherried fruit and oak spice show through.  The long, satisfying finish has smoked sherried fruits, followed by slightly astringent oak tannins and a final refreshing mint note.

Like I said, killer.  Not everyday Lagavulin releases a single cask whisky.  Fans of the distillery with deep pockets won’t want to miss this soon-to-be legendary whisky.  To those of you who end up lucky enough to own a bottle, for the love of whatever you consider holy, open this whisky and revel in its aromas and flavors.  Remember, whisky is meant to be enjoyed, not stared at.

9.5/10

Thanks to Lagavulin for the sample!  As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Stolen Whiskey Review


Stolen Spirits, known for their smoked rum, are releasing their first whiskey.  Stolen Whiskey starts as an 11-year-old whiskey “distilled and aged right outside whiskey’s Kentucky heartland.” I do wish STOLEN was a bit more transparent with where they sourced this whiskey, but we are where we are.  This whiskey is then re-barreled with toasted barrel staves.  There’s no word on how long the secondary maturation period is.  The final whiskey is bottled at 46% abv, or 92 proof.

How is it?

The rich nose features a deep, dark caramel base with hints of furniture polish, espresso and nutmeg.  Taste-wise, the smoked oak staves barrel finish add burnt caramel and slightly bitter barrel char to a bed of Mexican chocolate, sweet vanilla cream, orange peel, and baked banana.  The medium finish leaves a bananas foster note and a hint of smoked oak on the tongue.

This is an interesting whiskey.  It sits mainly in the dark caramel/dark roast coffee area of the flavor spectrum, thanks to the smoked oak stave finishing.  And because of how much that that flavor profile dominates, I have to believe the secondary maturation lasts a relatively long time.  That, or the the base whiskey is bland to start with and the smoked staves add a lot of flavor fast.  Stolen Whiskey has a creamy mouthfeel and nice flavors, but sometimes seems like a bit of a one-trick pony.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, if you know what you’re getting here.  It’s not a complex whiskey to sit and contemplate for an hour.  I have a feeling this whiskey is designed with the cocktail market in mind.  I made an Irish coffee, but substituted Irish whiskey for Stolen whiskey.  The results were pretty damn good. Stolen Whiskey is scheduled to hit shelves in March. 7/10

Thanks to Stolen Spirits for the sample.  As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

That Time I Helped Pick a Batch of Booker’s Bourbon

Since starting this blog years ago, I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing many whiskey geek moments.  I count myself very lucky.  The most recent of these was the opportunity to take part in a Booker’s Roundtable tasting.  Every so often, Jim Beam Master Distiller (and Booker Noe’s son) Fred Noe will gather with a handful of whiskey writers, enthusiasts, experts, and friends to pick out the next batch of Booker’s Bourbon.  Booker used to pick batches of his namesake bourbon with friends, and I’m glad to see the continuation of that tradition.  This Roundtable consisted of Chuck Cowdery, Lew Bryson, F. Paul Pacult, Nino Marchetti, Blake Riber, John McCarthy, Jack Robertiello, and myself.  Batch 2017-01, or “Tommy’s Batch,” is named after a 30+ year distillery employee and close friend of Booker’s who helped Booker with his barrel picks.  He was also on the call.

Doing a little pre-call tasting of both batches.

Regular readers of this blog, and anyone within earshot of me, know I consider Booker’s the best whiskey in the standard Jim Beam lineup.  I find it much more balanced than the older Knob Creek, which is also delicious but carries an oak-forward flavor profile.  Booker’s was on bourbon lover’s radars recently with an announced price increase that takes effect with this very batch of Booker’s I am helping to select.

How does the Booker’s Roundtable work?  Those selected will meet in person in Kentucky or via a conference call.  The latter is the case for this particular Roundtable selection.  The distillery usually sends three samples to each participant.  The samples are different batches of Booker’s, each with slight differences.  Fred leads a tasting and shares some production notes.  Our job is to taste each sample and pick the one we believe tastes most like Booker’s.  The batch with the most votes then gets bottled and goes to market.

This Roundtable selection was a touch different.  Participants only received samples from two batches of Booker’s instead of three.  Noe said the reason for that was a shortage of barrels of age needed to craft batches of Booker’s.  He also mentioned it’s why Beam is only releasing four batches instead of the usual six this year.


The breakdown of the two samples is as follows:

Batch A is 128.2 proof.  335 barrels came from two different production dates (January 2009 & July 2010) and three different warehouse locations:

  • 41% came from the 6th floor of warehouse E
  • 13% came from the 6th floor of warehouse H
  • 46% came from the 7th floor of warehouse D.

Batch B is 124.1 proof.  Barrels came from 5 different production dates (January 2009 & January – October 2010) and 4 different warehouses:

  • 7% came from the 5th floor of warehouse H
  • 19% came from the 4th floor of warehouse F
  • 18% came from the 5th floor of warehouse D
  • 18% came from the 5th floor of warehouse F
  • 38% came from the 4th floor of warehouse E

Both were great tasting bourbons.  While I found Batch B to be a touch more balanced but slightly muted, Batch A hit it out of the park.  With the exception of one participant, everyone (even Tommy) decided Batch A made for a much better batch of Booker’s – a big, rich, robust “back alley bruiser,” as someone on the call eloquently described it.

“Tommy’s Batch” is due to arrive on shelves in late February/early March.

Thanks to the folks at Beam and Multiply for inviting me to take part in the Booker’s Roundtable.