Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2025

Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2025

Region: Islay

ABV: 55.7%

Price: £240.00

Lagavulin’s 2025 Fèis Ìle release is a 15-year-old single malt finished in Moscatel de Málaga casks, a sweet fortified wine from southern Spain made using Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel grapes. 1,596 bottles were released on Malts.com and at the distillery’s shop.

Nose

The nose starts off very buttery, think buttered crumpets and warm rolls. It’s soft and mellow, with little initial smoke. There’s citrus, cashew nuts, and just a hint of ash developing in the background. The peat appears with patience. Along with notes of blackberry, watermelon, burnt wood, chocolate, and fudge appears as it opens up. It doesn’t scream Lagavulin to us, but is enjoyable to nose.

Palate

The palate opens with simple syrup, vanilla extract, peaches, and a splash of limoncello. On the mid palate there’s some peanuts, lime curd. The medium finish brings ash and sweet chilli spice with a touch of bitter grapefruit peel. The mouthfeel has a good weight to it and is slightly oily. It needs a little time in the glass for the smoke to develop, but once it has it becomes a nice balance of sweetness and smoke. Although, again Lagavulin wouldn’t have been our first guess.

Nose (with water)

A little more peat shows with water, along with peanuts, and a light medicinal iodine note. Orange peel, lemon juice, and candy floss are now the dominant sweeter notes, but these are balanced by the peat that’s more noticeable than on the pre diluted nose. Overall, this is more recognisably Lagavulin now.

Palate (with water)

Water makes it slightly more ashy and introduces more bitterness and spice. There’s still sweetness in the form of orange marmalade, peaches, and apricots, but it feels slightly drier overall. The finish remains of decent length, and the mouthfeel holds up well. We’re a little torn on if we’d add water to this or not.

Conclusion

This is a solid Lagavulin with a cask finish that adds fruit and depth. Although it does at times feel like the spirit is almost overpowered by the cask finish. It’s not a peat monster, but the balance of peat and sweetness works well. It’ll be down to personal preference if you want to add water. Saying that while it’s well made, it’s missing a little something to take this to the next level. If the finish was longer, or the spice or bitterness reduced we’d have probably went higher, but as it stands we’ll go with.

Score: 7/10

Value

At £240, this is… well, let’s put it politely; on the steeper end of Fèis Ìle pricing. While it’s enjoyable and well constructed, it doesn’t quite deliver enough wow factor to justify the price tag. One for the superfans or collectors only.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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