Islay currently has 8 distilleries making whisky and a ninth closing in on completion. That means when a Islay whisky is bottled but the name is  not given you have decent odds of working out the producer. The producer can also like in this case make up a name which may give a clue or send you completely down the wrong track. Either way, I am not presented with a “Laggan Mill”.

There is a laggan farm on Islay quite close to the airport and back in the Victorian era Lagavulin distillery was host to “Malt Mill” distillery. A mythical distillery which no-one knows what it tasted like and a sample of spirit was only recently randomly found in a drawer at the distillery. So, is it Lagavulin or was the name made up in marketing and only a red herring?

The Dram

Vintage Malt Co obviously have a deal with the producers as a new version of the whisky appears every year. This particular example was distilled in 2008 and bottled in 2016. There has recently been a 2009 vintage released as this particular example is sold out now almost everywhere. The cask used was a refill one almost certainly and originally contained Bourbon. The bottles are watered down to 46% which is a good thing really and 400 bottles were produced. The price for any of the vintages is around £58 and the current version is found here.

Tasting Notes

Colour – White wine

Nose – lots of iodine and briny water with lots of vegital smoke.

Palate – the smoke is quite subtle and there is some lemon oil and a touch of vanilla pods.

Finish – This is a sweet and sour finish with a bitter note to the end. Some tobacco leaves are in there as well.

Final Thoughts

Another independantly bottled islay whisky which is very spirit led. There is a lot of choice on the market for these styles of whiskies at the moment so you have lots of choice. At just under £60 I am not sure this is the best value option but it seems to sell well with a lot of people believing this to be a Lagavulin. Before the 8 year old became part of the core range I could see why this might be appealing but since the core bottle is cheaper and widely available I think this particular bottle has had its day.