Young Islays can be hit-or-miss depending on how active the cask is, so with a slight bit of trepidation that I dug into this Valinch and Mallet South Shore Islay Malt 8 Years. Emphasis on slight because I’ve had some good Islays as young as 5 years. I’ve also had a pretty good experience with Valinch & Mallet so far. On the surface, I was set up for success.
Being a “South Shore Islay” narrows it down to the three “Kildalton distilleries”: Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin. Which one it is, V&M are not saying, but doing a little bit of thinking, and drinking, we can narrow this down a bit more. We can eliminate Ardbeg right away because single casks of them are few and far between, always cause a stir and no major stir was made.
Indie Laphroaig releases almost always carry the name but Lagavulin indie releases never do and will sometimes carry the title of being from the south shore. The mental gymnastics of this info and experience leaves me 90% sure this is a Lagavulin, but to be 100% sure we need to get to drinkin’ and see what the senses say.
Valinch and Mallet South Shore Islay Malt 8 Years – Details and Tasting Notes
Whisky Details
Style: Single Malt
Region: Islay, Scotland
Distiller: Lagavulin (best guess)
Bottler: Valinch and Mallet
Mash Bill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: ex-Bourbon
Age: 8 Years
ABV: 48.8%
Price: $140
Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color
Valinch and Mallet South Shore Islay Malt 8 Years Tasting Notes
EYE
Pale gold
NOSE
Ripe apples, smoke, spirity minerality, vanilla taffy, marzipan and some light maritime notes.
Not super complex, but pleasant. There is a sweetness here I attribute more to Lagavulin than any other Islay distillery.
PALATE
Salted butter, dried orchard fruit, vanilla taffy, spirity minerality, toffee, iodine and a bit of candy sweetness towards the end.
The palate is better than the aroma with a more pronounced sweetness kicking through this South Shore Islay Malt.
FINISH
Long -> Dried apples and graham fade to and ashy minerality.
BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Decent balance, medium body and a warm soft feel.
Valinch and Mallet South Shore Islay Malt 8 Years – Overall Thoughts and Score
Before we talk about anything else, because I have some opinions here, let’s talk about how much fun this whisky is. It’s soft, it’s sweet, it’s warm and it’s brimming with Islay character. The aroma and palate are great and make this whisky so dang interesting. The finish is a bit meh, but doesn’t distract. I ended up enjoying this one and was pretty sure it was Lagavulin by the end of the tasting… like 98% sure.
Once I had written everything above I finally Googled this whisky and was both validated and shocked. Validated because everything else I saw said Lagavulin (awesome), but that’s when I saw the price… $140. The Lagavulin Distiller’s edition, which is about 2x this age, is $130. The Offerman Edition is 11 years and $70, the regular 16 is around $100 and Lagavulin’s own cask strength 8-year-old is about $70. I don’t often comment on price, but damn.
Obviously I didn’t buy this one, the remainder pictured was gifted to me by a friend for this review, and all I can say is “Thank You” and “WTF”. Whisky prices are just insane these days, I don’t know why I’m still so shocked by them. I guess it’s because 7-8 years doesn’t feel that long ago and back then you could buy a 1979 Lagavulin for $170 and now… this. At least it tastes good though, so there’s that.
SCORE: 3.5/5
Valinch and Mallet South Shore Islay Malt 8 Years Review $140
Summary
A fun, lively, and engaging Lagavulin that keeps you coming back for more. This is a tasty little dram.
Overall
3.5- Nose (3.5)
- Palate (3.5)
- Finish (3.5)
- BBF (3.5)
