I still had this straggler standing around from our trip to Islay about a year and a half ago, and it was about time to finish it off. This 13 year old Lagavulin was matured in a 4th fill cask. Something that doesn’t happen too often, except maybe for whisky that’s set aside for blending in some cases. A 4th fill cask means that the cask influence is very limited compared to 1st or 2nd fill. I didn’t write everything down about the sample we got at the distillery, during the warehouse tasting with Iain McArthur so I don’t know the exact ABV and the type of cask it was matured in.

Nose:
Quite some heather and smoke with the impact of regular lagavulin. Apart from that, not much is happening. It already shows almost no maturation and is very spirit like. Almost no depth, but still loads of character.

Taste:
The flavour is reasonably smooth, but very spirity. Some vanilla but quite watery and I can barely detect any cask influence. The color is almost white, like water, too.

Finish:
Here it does show some more flavours. You get the thick Lagavulin smoke with almond cookies. The finish is short and slightly astringent with hints of leather and raw steak.

This was an interesting dram. It really shows why not many 4th fill casks are bottled, since it is really lacking maturation. The character from Lagavulin is already present, but it really lacks the depth I want from a whisky. A fun thing to try, but I wouldn’t buy a bottle of this stuff anytime soon.