Lagavulin – 8 Year Old 200th Anniversary (70cl, 48%)

This Lagavulin 8 Year Old is an official Islay single malt, bottled in 2016 at 48% ABV in a 70cl bottle. It was released to mark the 200th anniversary of the distillery's founding by John Johnston in 1816. The age statement draws on Alfred Barnard's visit in the 1880s, when he tried an 'exceptionally fine' eight-year-old from the distillery. The whisky is big and smoky, with a sweet spice that shows with a drop of water. The nose has bandages, cane juice, hay and marzipan, then seaweed, oysters and diesel oil. The palate is ashy, sooty and very dry, with salted walnuts, and the finish is long and austere with a hint of orange.