Lagavulin 12y special release 2023, the ink of legends - 6cl

6cl sample

Lagavulin 2023 Special Releases
natural cask strength - 12y - 56,4%
2023 edition, finished in don julio anejo tequila casks

scores:
whiskybase – 86/180  wb238718
serge valentin - 89 (see review below)

Lagavulin 12 yo 'The Ink of Legends' (56.4%, OB, Special Release 2023, Tequila finish)
Suzy, the world has gone mad, they've imposed on this young Lagavulin a finishing in tequila barrels from their own Don Julio brand, which is a rather carnival-esque idea to me. In my simple world, there can only be two reasons for doing this: either there was a batch of nearly wrecked Lagavulin barrels that absolutely needed to be salvaged, or they've just hired some new 'what-the-heck-why-not' kinds of marketeers. Not sure what's best… Now you never know, we like to find agave in our malts and some aromas sure would overlap nicely… BTW we had liked 2022's 'The Flames of The Phoenix' a lot (WF 89). Colour: straw. Nose: more or less what I was actually expecting, many aromas overlap, especially the salty, coastal, rooty and olive-y sides. Which generates an increased feeling of 'smoked olive brine' to which we are absolutely not opposed. With water: no, chalk, rocks, slate, wool, smoky porridge… Mouth (neat): I'd have never said this was premixed with tequila. A lot of brine, seawater, olives, gherkins, samphires, oyster plant, then pickled plums and small lemons, while it is getting a little more syrupy over the minutes. Iodine and plasticine are there too. With water: frankly sweeter, but that can be very Lagavulin too. We're also somewhat reminded of the Italian olive liqueurs, which they make for example around the Lago de Garda if I remember well. Finish: long, very Lagavulin, very briny. Comments: rather hated the idea but rather loved the result. They just shouldn't have told us. B***** marketers (love them too) but please no Don Papa finish next year or we send WF's permanently hungry Dobermans.
SGP:567 - 89 points.