Scotland
1 Jan 1992
1 Jan 2017
The first release in the Douglas Laing's Vintage Series is a 25 year old Big Peat titled The Gold Edition. As ever, this terrific blended malt is made exclusively with whiskies distilled on the Isle of Islay, though for this expression, each one has been aged for at least 25 years. There will be two more bottlings in the Vintage Series, but Douglas Laing has really started the show with a showstopper! A release of 3,000 bottles.
Bringing a unique taste of his island home of Islay, detect a more gentle and mature side of Big Peat on the nose, with boat varnish, beachy rock pools and a smoky barbecue backdrop. The palate opens as sweetly-peated as ever and warms to later creosote, black pepper and chimney smoke. The finish displays that same warm depth of sweet personality before deliciously damp bonfire ash, coal dust and charred meat appear.
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Excellence in a bottle. A wonderful example of Islay Whisky at its matured best.
£175 a bottle. That is an eye-watering £12.50 for a single Scottish measure. "Those that pay for it, don't drink it. Those that drink it don't pay for it" - I suspect the 3000 bottles will vanish into collections, get flipped at auctions in a few years, or grace the top shelf of 5* international hotels. Only to be tasted by Oligarchs and Blogger Parasites.
Very pleasant but the price is not justified by the overall quality. The other limited editions such as london or the feis mile editions are a third of the price and mile better value.
Tried it at Whisky Live in London - was my highlight of the show.
