Lagavulin 12 Years Pure Islay Malt White Horse Distillers 43% Late 70's

Professionelle Bewertungen

Serge Valentin (94)

Colour: amber with orange hues. Nose: ah yes! Rounded and rather on orange marmalade at very first nosing, but getting sharp and magnificently peaty after that. The kind of ‘mingled’ peatiness that you only find in very old bottles of Lagavulin or Laphroaig, more rarely in Ardbeg. That involves old tar liqueurs, various herbs, some coal, old car engine, the famous tarry ropes, some mint… Now, there’s rather less fresh tropical fruits than usual in this magnificent nose, let’s hope the palate is still in good shape. Mouth: but yes! Exceptionally tarry and peaty, smooth and sweet but firm, salty, resinous, leathery, coastal… Especially the notes of bitter oranges are exceptional here. But beware of maltoporn, better stop now. Finish: no comments. Comments: to be honest, this one seems to be a tad sweeter than other versions on the palate but it’s just as magnificent globally. Imagine they were struggling to sell it forty years ago! I’ve even heard that some distributors used to offer one or two bottles for free for each case of cheap rum that was bought. Insane times.

Words of Whisky (94)

Angus mcRaild, whisyfun:

Ok, not all the drams in this session are 12 year olds. This is an extremely rare NAS version for the UK from the early 1970s I believe. Never tried this one before, but as you know, I’m a huge fan of NAS… Colour: pale amber. Nose: as big as you can get at 43%. Old school peat slapped on with a trowel. Black pepper, coal embers, soot, roof pitch and buckets of tar. Feels even more ‘old school’ than the 12 yo versions; I’m reminded of a certain 14yo Laphroaig bottled in the 1950s here. Brilliantly herbal, tarry, earthy, phenolic and full of this wonderfully greasy, textural peatiness. Mouth: Indeed, this is old, old stuff. Hugely peaty, grizzly herbal bitters, smoked peppercorns, natural tar extracts, industrial cough medicines, ointments, vapour rubs and hessian. Simple in many ways, but beautifully so and with devastating poise and power. Finish: long, leafy, drying, herbal, tarry, earthy peat smoke. A briny splosh of seawater in the aftertaste. Comments: Feels rather distinct and separate from some of the later batches - were they getting rid of the dregs of Malt Mill in the early 70s? Anyway, extremely old style, properly uncompromising Islay whisky. You cannot help but imagine what kind of immense leviathan this must have been at marrying strength…

BOW (94)

This Lagavulin at 12 years old, is a 1970s bottling. With "White Horse Distillers " Printed on the label, becouse Lagavulin was back than sharing the same ownership as the White Horse blend.