Single Malt Scotch

Lagavulin Distillers Edition benefited from refining in second maturing Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, which contained a wine made from sun-dried grapes with intense flavors. Masterfully chosen for its grainy sweetness, it magically accentuates and deepens every aspect of the rich and intense character of Lagavulin.

The enriched Talisker, Amoroso seasoned casks impart a wonderfully rounded and luscious, fruity sweetness, complementing the familiar crisp, dry peat smoke and pepperiness.

Part of the 2022 lineup of Diageo's Special Releases, this 12-year-old Lagavulin is a deliciously peaty Islay single malt that was matured in American oak refill and virgin oak casks, then bottled at 114.6 proof. Sweet, spicy, and intensely smoky, it's the iconic Lagavulin, doing what it does best.

Octomore 13.2 offers an alternative maturation to the structural brilliance delivered by its 13.1 counterpart. In an indulgent point of difference, the five-year-old spirit has spent its entire maturing life in Oloroso butts from Fernando de Castilla, Spain.

Octomore 13.3 demonstrates the phenomenal force of flavour when combining super-heavy peat with the variable harvests gathered from the island of Islay, raised by friend and farmer James Brown on one singular farm.

A heavily-peated 2011 Port Charlotte single malt from Bruichladdich, PAC:01 has been matured in ex-American whiskey casks for six years before being finished in ex-Pauillac red wine casks for a further two years before bottling.

The 2022 release of Talisker 30 Year Old has spent all of those decades maturing in American oak. In that time, all that coastal smoke has been sweetly mellowed, and the peated Scotch is joined by plenty of pepper notes, along with ripe orchard fruits, and drizzles of salted caramel. A truly terrific single malt from the Isle of Skye-based distillery.

The fourth volume in Laphroaig's Ian Hunter Story series is a 1987-vintage single malt that was matured in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels and finished in first-fill European oak ex-oloroso sherry casks, before being bottled at 34-years-old. Aromas of dried fruit, soft smoke, tobacco leaves, eucalyptus, heather honey, black pepper and cinder toffee fill the nose, complemented by notes of barbecued pork, sweet honey, peach, orange blossom, iodine, earthy peat and ashy wood smoke throughout the palate and lingering in the finish.

Octomore 13.1 is as youthful and dynamic as its super-heavily peated predecessors. Distilled patiently from the 2015 harvest of 100% Scottish Mainland barley, this single malt is malted to a stratospheric 137.3 PPM and matured in the highest quality American oak casks. ABV: 59.2%.

Beginning with fragrances of honey sweetness, peach, and apricot, yet evolving into bolder medicinal aromas, with fresh tobacco, cloves, and eucalyptus. The palate is treated to another contrast of character, yet this time with a maritime feel giving an initial medicinal, salty taste that gives way to sweetness in the form of honey, and then an intriguing note of fresh oysters lingers that brings it back to Islay, along with the subtle peat smoke on the mouth drying finish.

Nose: Smoke rises with a cloying sweetness. Intense, pungent and aromatic, a distinctive farmyard scent drifts, along with a crunchy aroma, like creosote or tarry rope. A splash of water disturbs the vapours and dark chocolate cream billows, laced with a ribbon of smoked artichoke.