Lagavulin 14 Year (2022 Islay Jazz Festival)

Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival expressions are always a must in a whisky enthusiast home bar. Since the first time i tasted the 2017 release, i fell in love and i have never missed one. On 2022, "Laga" actually released two expressions for Islay Jazz Festival. This review is for the 7 year old one, a cask strength edition, bottled at a magnificent 59.5%abv. On the nose, i got some crazy notes that i love since i have a broken soul due to excessive peat. Merthiolate, and the rubber tube from a bicycle tire are the first distinguishable aroma descriptors that appear. Povydone, gooseberries, metallic. A swampy pond. A tire repair shop. How can anyone dislike this aroma profile? It is impossible! On the palate, the Vanilla form the bourbon casks used is very present. Thick salt, sulphur and a red hot chilli. A second sip took me to Italy, since it was all about a super creamy vanilla Gelato (ice cream). Aftertaste is perfect. Pecans, metallic notes and sulphur. Roasted almonds. Incredible stuff. Super long. Overall, this is what jazz is. A crazy composition of spectacular notes (peaty or musical), that obliterates your standards and paradigms to show you something different which is definitively a piece of art. That is what this dram is. My score for it is a solid 97 over 100. It is a 7yo, but it shows Lagavulin is capable of.

This is a true statement: Lagavulin is the best. And the best Lagavulin expressions are the Islay Jazz ones. I am glad we have discussed that. Now let's talk about 2022's special Islay Jazz expressions, because this year there were two of them, a 7yo Ex Bourbon Cask Strength, and this amazing 14yo Ex Brandy Casks, bottled at 55.4%abv, with a beautiful golden color. On the nose, absolutely amazing. Ham, a pair of cotton socks, moss, new shoes, and a fresh can of tennis balls. Brown sugar, burnt rubber, sponge and a rubber duck. Incredible stuff. After some sips it gave me liquid paper, glue and plastic. On the palate, this is a marvelous liquid. Peaches, earthiness, amazing bacon and roasted coffee.  After some sips it gave me  dehydrated peaches and molasses. It was near perfection here. Aftertaste was glorious. Cuban cigars, smoke, ashes and very long. Ginger and Salt. Overall, this was an out of this world dram. I believe this is the first time i have ever had a Brandy Cask finish and it did not dissapointed me. Brandy is actually a type of burnt wine popularized in the netherlands as "Brandewijn", and that "burn" goes fantastic with the Lagavulin spirit. Great, great stuff, my score for it is 99 over 100. (It lost only one point in the palate).