WOW, I had forgotten how good Lagavulin is!

Over the past few weeks I've had the pleasurable experience of enjoying a 16 year old Lagavulin and a Suntory Toki at a friends place, and the ... experience... of re-trying my boss's fav.  

We need to start with the best:  Wow, I had forgotten how good Lagavulin is!  And if you were drinking some right now you probably wouldn't care about the dangling participle.  I’m pretty sure my impression wouldn’t have changed much even if I wasn’t drinking around a campfire on a crisp night in the lower 40’s catching up with an old friend.  Despite all I’ve read about a good peaty scotch being just like sipping a campfire, I must admit this was the first time I’ve actually drank scotch around a campfire.  Turns out everyone is right! The Lagavulin was a smooth liquid version of the scents going through my nose but in no way overpowering though.   

While at the same friend’s place, he gave me a taste of his Suntory Toki he picked up at Costco. I was really excited to try it as I haven't had anything from Japan for a while.  But I was disappointed because it was an extremely non-offensive whisky and really didn’t elicit any response in me whatsoever. (If you become a long time reader of this blog you’ll see that I prefer something - Good or bad- over nothing. I’m not the Vodka Enthusiast!”).  

Now to Kessler's.  My boss claims a family connection to Kessler’s.  "Really boss?" “Yep, Uncle Kessler as my Uncle called him” or something like that 😐 (there's no eyeroll emoji that I see on this platform).  Kessler’s is drinkable straight, but if I were doing a formal review I would find a nice way to say "Kessler's is sweet up front with lingering notes of isopropyls".  In this particular case the isopropyl, or whatever it is, isn't necessarily a bad thing because I've seen boss take a sip out of the bottle and then pass it around.  All in all, it isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be and the after taste can easily be erased with an Altoid. 

In addition to the tastings above, I'm still working through bottles of Glenmorangie The Tayne, Hirsch High-Rye Bourbon 8Yr old, Old Grandad, and Tullamore Dew.  Here's how I rank these seven whiskys:

1. Lagavulin 16

2. Glenmorangie The Tayne

3. Hirsch High-Rye Bourbon 8 Yr

4. Old Grandad

5. Suntory Toki

6. Tullamore Dew

7. Kessler's    

The Glenmorangie is an excellent scotch with quite a bit of peat for a highland but it is no match for the Lagavulin.  The Hirsch is a solid bourbon and moved up in the rankings because of its strong showing (and since it is rather new gets a bump solely due to quadrupling its "wins").  Finally, because it was very neutral, the Suntory Toki came in behind Old Grandad with its nice sweetness, but above Tullamore Dew with a aftertaste that doesn't suit my fancy.  See the Rankings page for the complete rankings of the whiskys I've tried since 2008!