New Release: Lagavulin 2007-2016 8yo The Vintage Malt Whisky Cooper's Choice #7583 55%

Though young, it clearly had the essence of Lagavulin. Lagavulin LAGAVULIN 2007-2016 8yo THE VINTAGE MALT WHISKY COOPER'S CHOICE #7583 55% one of 325 bottles The aroma is gently sweet, with vanilla, honey, a strong yet good barley note, seafood dashi, and powerful peat. When drinking, it starts with a viscous texture that expands powerfully, featuring honey-like sweetness, savory seafood dashi and strong barley umami, with a long-lasting peaty finish. 【Good/Very Good】 This is a new release of Lagavulin 2007, aged for 8 years in the Cooper's Choice series. It is a short-aged cask strength expression, lacking complexity but offering the boldness typical of Islay cask strengths, along with savory seafood notes, barley umami, and intense peat. There is a gentle aroma and viscous texture that I associate with Lagavulin, making me feel it truly embodies the spirit of Lagavulin despite its youth. However, I often find that younger expressions like this can sometimes feel more similar to Caol Ila, as the viscous texture and gentle nuances I associate with Lagavulin (as seen in the 12-year-old official cask strength) are less obvious at this age. Considering that the standard Lagavulin is 16 years old, it may take time for the character to fully emerge. Nevertheless, this is a bottler's single cask selection. I believe they carefully chose the matured spirit even at this young age. Given the current boom in single malts, distilleries are likely holding onto their casks. It remains questionable whether a popular distillery like Lagavulin would have available casks to select from.