A very special Lagavulin, bottled especially for the 50th anniversary of the family of The Whisky Exchange's co-founders, Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh, opening their west London drinks shop and starting the journey that would lead to The Whisky Exchange. Aged in a single first-fill PX hogshead for 31 years, this 1991 vintage is old Lagavulin at its best, packed with dark fruit, smoke and stormy seas.

Lagavulin is one of Islay’s most elemental distilleries. Its youthful whiskies bring to mind the crashing waves that are whipped up by storms along the south coast of the island. But its older spirits are elemental in a different way, delving into the earthiness of the peat at the core of the distillery’s character.

This whisky doubles down on those rich and earthy flavours, with 31 years of maturation in a first-fill Pedro Ximénez sherry hogshead adding fruit cake, spice and rich berry fruit notes to Lagavulin’s maritime peat, smoked tea and tarred rope. This is a rare glimpse at what happens when Lagavulin’s spirit is left to slumber for more than three decades, and is well worth every year we’ve had to wait.

Billy Abbott, The Whisky Exchange (link new window)

NOSE

Rich leather and sweet smoke: satchels of smouldering peat. Dark fruit builds through middle – raisins and dried cherries – all wrapped up in bung cloth and tied with tarry ropes. Menthol and mint fade away to leave earthy smoke, beach bonfires and sea-washed rocks.

PALATE

Initially softly sweet and chewy on the palate, with liquorice sticks, maraschino cherries and dark fruit cake (with singed edges) giving way to rich peat smoke and coal dust. Smoked seaweed appears from the depths alongside dark chocolate, leafy mint and sticky blackcurrant.

FINISH

Dark chocolate and leafy mint slowly fade while cherries and coal smoke linger. The finish is long, but eventually only singed leaves and earthy peat smoke remain.