Lagavulin 11 Year Old Offerman Edition 46%
I figured this would be quite the gimmick but I found it at a decent price and figured to give it a shot. I mean - it couldn’t be worse than the GOT Lag, could it?? (actually I seem to be in the minority on that one. Lots of people like the GOT Lag) I only wish this would have been released as the Ron Swanson edition. I was quite surprised with this as you can read below.
Smell - sour peat, peat reek, banana, melon rind. Allspice and clove are there too, but not as heavy. Not quite your standard Lag, but still good. The sourness of it all is a surprise to me, but it’s enjoyable. It does show some qualities of the standard 16 yr old.
Taste - clean, astringent, Iodine, seaweed, brine. After that blast of medicinal comes some nice barley, sugar sweetness, with some vanilla. Even the sweetness from it is crisp and clean. A little bit of the clove and allspice but mostly brine and barley sugar.
Finish - peat reek, sour melon, campfire ash, iodine, clean.
Lagavulin used to be more of a staple in this house than it is now mostly due to the ridiculous prices out there these days. I still enjoy Lagavulin anytime I can get my hands on it for a reasonable price. This particular bottle is much better than I had expected. Similar enough to the 16yr old that you can clearly tell it’s a Lag. (unlike the 8yr old which is good as well but nothing at all like the 16) I’ve seen pretty crazy price variations on this one. I grabbed this bottle for $70 (USD) which isn’t bad, imo. I have seen it up to $130 in some places. This bottle performs exactly where it falls in the line of Lags. It’s better than the 8yr old and not quite as good as the 16yr old. Provided the price can remain in check, I think this would be a great addition to their core range, much like the 8yr old has become. Overall, I really like this and it’s much more like the younger brother to the 16yr, whereas the 8yr old seems to be more like the younger brother to the 12yr cask strength. If the price is right I would recommend grabbing a bottle of this.
Overall Grade: B
