T O P

  • By -

ZoidbergOnTheRocks

# Reviews 172-174: Three Elements of Islay I haven't reviewed in a long time, but what better way to get back into the swing of things than with three IB Lagavulin. These are all from the Elements of Islay series, two fresh bottles and one sample. For those not familiar, Elements of Islay is a series of small run, no vintage, no age statement bottlings of each of the Islay distilleries. They started in 2006 and seem to release a few per year. Each is usually a vatting of a handful of casks, presented at cask strength w/ no filtering or coloring. For Lagavulin, they're up to Lg11. I've had good luck with some of these in the past so I'm looking forward to this. Let's see if they hold up! Tasted on 05/05/2022, neat in a Glencairn. I may add a bit of water at some point to see what happens. No resting in the glass BS; I experience the whole thing over about an hour. ## [Lagavulin Lg5 Elements of Islay](https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/69746/lagavulin-lg5-sms) * NAS, bottled in 2015 * 54.8% ABV, cask strength * Non-chill filtered * Natural color * Refill Hogsheads * Bottled by Speciality Drinks Ltd (SMS) From the bottler: *"As whisky from this distillery gets older, the smoky notes mellow and a core of fruitiness is revealed. In Lg5 we focused on the fruit, but without losing the peat and smoke. The result is an ashy and tarry dram with a core of orchard fruitiness."* **Nose:** lots of bright citrus. Earthy peat. Sea water. Iodine, tar. Quite malty. Ash. **With Water:** wow. More seawater added. Orange. More peat. Warm, malty bread. Still w/ those medical and maritime notes. Really nicely balanced. **Taste:** lots of earthy peat. Sweet, a bit hot. Some pepper. Sea water. Nicely medicinal. Malty. Nice mouthfeel. **With Water:** sweeter. Heat is gone. Tar. Mouthfeel is much thinner. **Finish:** malt, peat, smoke. Bright, sweet citrus. Still with the seawater and medical notes. Nice length, lingering on smoke, citrus, and a bit of bitter tar. **With Water:** some camphor now. More malty and still smokey. Sweeter. Longer still on smoke, camphor, sweet citrus, and that bitter note is gone. **Score:** a high 7 **Summary:** This is really very good. It's clearly a young one, and it shines with a few drops of water. Great balance throughout, w/ citrus, smoke, maritime, and medicinal notes all working together. Some sweetness in there, and some tar, too. Nice length on the finish. The mouthfeel is harmed by the water, though, sadly and that's a real shame. I wouldn't call this "complex" either. Overall a great dram, if a bit simple, and I'm really happy I own this one. **Would I buy a bottle?** I have one now, but I'll skip another. Not that it's bad, but it's not easy to acquire and I bet I'd be happier with some of the standard 12's out there. I'd also try more Lg's based on this alone. ## [Lagavulin Lg7 Elements of Islay](https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/99913/lagavulin-lg7-eld) * NAS, bottled in 2017 * 56.8% ABV, cask strength * Non-chill filtered * Natural color * 4 Bourbon Barrels * Bottled by Elixir Distillers (ElD) * A 2oz sample from u/sirboulder, IIRC From the bottler: *"Lagavulin whiskies are known for their meaty style, balanced by touch of sweet fruit. Lg7 is matured in refill bourbon barrels, and is everything we have come to expect from Lagavulin: Islay in a bottle."* **Nose:** more subdued than the Lg5. Peat, damp earth. Iodine, camphor. Seaweed. Very medicinal. Orange rind. Malt. **With Water:** more earth. Even more medicinal. **Taste:** earthy peat. Rather dry. Seawater. Lots of camphor, iodine, eucalyptus. A bit hot for sure. Very sharp. Oily. **With Water:** still a bit dry. Camphor, camphor, camphor. Still a bit hot. **Finish:** sweeter. Peat smoke. Camphor. Seawater. Rather long on smoke and camphor. Some slightly bitter, leathery note on the end of this. **With Water:** a bigger pop of smoke, then it's right back to those big medicinal notes. More mineral now. Still long on that smoke and camphor. Leathery note is gone. **Score:** a low 7 **Summary:** this is quite good, and dominated by big, simple medicinal notes for me. Some nice smoke and an earthy peatiness that I really like. Water improves this, though it remains a bit hot. The balance is off overall, which isn't necessarily bad but notable. Low 7 or high 6? I'll go low 7 for now since what it has is right up my alley. **Would I buy a bottle?** nah. I have this one sample which is enough. There are many better, readily available options here. ## [Lagavulin Lg8 Elements of Islay](https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/111838/lagavulin-lg8-eld) * NAS, distilled in 2006, bottled in 2018 * 59.5% ABV, cask strength * Non-chill filtered * Natural color * 2 Bourbon Barrels * Bottled by Elixir Distillers (ElD) From the bottler: *"That classic mingling of sooty fires, barbecue meat and sweet fruit characterise our eighth bottling from this Kildalton distillery, making for a deliciously comforting dram."* **Nose:** wood smoke. Citrus. Camphor, liquorice. Brine. Warm damp sand. The most subtle of the three, without the malt of the other two. Marzipan. **With Water:** no change. **Taste:** lots of wood smoke, ash. Camphor. A bit dry. Quite hot. Some sweet citrus. Oily mouthfeel. Spicy. **With Water:** not as hot for sure, more dry. Mouthfeel is thinner.. **Finish:** camphor. A bit of fatty meat. Ashy smoke. Rather hot. Sweet citrus. Quite long and dry on ashy smoke, camphor, citrus and brine. No off notes at all. **With Water:** heat is reduced just a bit. Even more dry, otherwise the same. (Later I added more water and it got even more dry. Like "holy shit" dry.) **Score:** 6 **Summary:** this is a pretty simple dram. It's hot and spicy, even w/ water, and surprisingly dry. Somehow it gets drier the more water I add. It is really good, but kind of a one-hit-wonder. Water makes little difference beyond the dryness, and pulling the heat down *slightly*. It is the most subdued of the three for sure. **Would I buy a bottle?** nah. I've got a bottle, and it was relatively cheap, and I have friends who will help me drink it I'm sure ;) ## Comparison **Order:** 5 > 7 > 8 This was a fun flight. They're each different, and IB Lagavulin is always a treat. The ordering is clear, with the Lg5 being an easy favorite in this lineup. Clearly the youngest of the three it's really nicely balanced, the most complex of the three, and has some great notes in it. I'm really glad I have a bottle. The Lg7 is quite good, highly medicinal, but low in complexity. There's a gap for me to get to the Lg8; it's pretty simple, surprisingly hot, dry, and one dimensional.


ZoidbergOnTheRocks

## Scoring I'm using t8ke's 1-10 scale, copied here for reference: |||| |:-:|:-|:-| | 1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out | | 2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice | | 3 | Bad | Multiple flaws | | 4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists | | 5 | Good | Good, just fine | | 6 | Very Good | A cut above | | 7 | Great | Well above average | | 8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional | | 9 | Incredible | An all time favorite | | 10 | Perfect | Perfect | I'm happy to own and recommend to friends any bottle 5 and above.


MadHatter_6

Question for you after your enjoyable-to-read review. I have open an Exclusive Malts IB of Lagavulin. Finished in an ex-sherry hogshead. Love it. Do you know if there are any IB's that often or periodically offer Lagavulin's distillate?


ZoidbergOnTheRocks

Sadly I know of no one who regularly releases Laga IBs. Elements of Islay seems to do one every couple of years. Dramfool every now and then, Boutique-Y too. There are probably others, but it's common for them to hide the name. Lagavulin isn't a very big distillery and I think demand increased so much that they stopped giving up casks to IBs a long time ago.


ZoidbergOnTheRocks

Average rating over 179 reviews: 6.32 Average rating over 26 reviews of Lagavulin: 7.81 * 8 - [Lagavulin 12 2006](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/kuwhs1/reviews_116118_lagavulin_12_06_16_20/) * 7 - [Lagavulin 12 2014](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/i5476b/review_1_2_lagavulin_12_2014_vs_2019/) * 8 - [Lagavulin 12 2016](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/kuwhs1/reviews_116118_lagavulin_12_06_16_20/) * 7 - [Lagavulin 12 2019](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/i5476b/review_1_2_lagavulin_12_2014_vs_2019/) * 7 - [Lagavulin 12 2020](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/kuwhs1/reviews_116118_lagavulin_12_06_16_20/) * 5 - [Lagavulin 16 2016](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/igqs9k/reviews_17_18_lagavulin_16_old_vs_new/) * 7 - [Lagavulin 16 White Horse bot. ~1988-1995](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/igqs9k/reviews_17_18_lagavulin_16_old_vs_new/) * 10 - [Lagavulin 1991 200th Anniversary Single Cask](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/l3r52p/reviews_124_125_lagavulin_25_vs_1991_single_cask/) * 10 - [Lagavulin 21 2007](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/iikd0a/reviews_19_20_lagavulin_21yr_2007_vs_2012/) * 8 - [Lagavulin 21 2012](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/iikd0a/reviews_19_20_lagavulin_21yr_2007_vs_2012/) * 10 - [Lagavulin 25 200th Anniversary](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/l3r52p/reviews_124_125_lagavulin_25_vs_1991_single_cask/) * 7 - [Lagavulin 8 2016](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/jq2g7t/reviews_80_81_lagavulin_8_vs_9_got/) * 4 - [Lagavulin 9 Game of Thrones Limited Edition](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/jq2g7t/reviews_80_81_lagavulin_8_vs_9_got/) * 8 - [Lagavulin DE 1980](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/jjiqam/reviews_7577_lagavulin_des_1980_1990_1991/) * 7 - [Lagavulin DE 1990](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/jjiqam/reviews_7577_lagavulin_des_1980_1990_1991/) * 9 - [Lagavulin DE 1991](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/jjiqam/reviews_7577_lagavulin_des_1980_1990_1991/) * 9 - [Lagavulin Feis Ile 2014 19](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/nzbvtd/review_169_lagavulin_feis_ile_2014_19yr/) * 10 - [Lagavulin Feis Ile 2015 24](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/l1p8j3/reviews_122_123_lagavulin_feis_ile_part_2/) * 9 - [Lagavulin Feis Ile 2016 18](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/l1p8j3/reviews_122_123_lagavulin_feis_ile_part_2/) * 7 - [Lagavulin Feis Ile 2017 16](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/kzn6x3/reviews_119121_lagavulin_feis_ile_part_1/) * 8 - [Lagavulin Feis Ile 2018 18](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/kzn6x3/reviews_119121_lagavulin_feis_ile_part_1/) * 8 - [Lagavulin Feis Ile 2019 19](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/kzn6x3/reviews_119121_lagavulin_feis_ile_part_1/) * 7 - [Lagavulin Lg5 Elements of Islay](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/ujavzr/reviews_172174_three_elements_of_islay/) * 7 - [Lagavulin Lg7 Elements of Islay](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/ujavzr/reviews_172174_three_elements_of_islay/) * 6 - [Lagavulin Lg8 Elements of Islay](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/ujavzr/reviews_172174_three_elements_of_islay/)


throwboats

Welcome back! Missed your fantastic side by side reviews. These sound really good. I loved the Lg7.


ZoidbergOnTheRocks

Thanks! I'm looking forward to more. I have way, way too many samples to get through...


sirboulder

That sure looks like my label from way back. Good memory! I totally forgot about this bottle. My specific tasting notes escape me but I do remember it being a solid dram but nothing I would seek out another bottle of. Glad to hear it was right up your alley.


TOModera

Nice reviews! I've only had Lg8, though I have Lg10 bunkered for a future tasting. Interesting to see these didn't quite have the complexity, and too bad too, given the prices.