Lagavulin is well established in the scotch world and thus to some may have little need in the way of advertising. But it so happened during the early 2010s that popular American ensemble comedy Parks and Recreation contained a character who held an abiding love for the distillery. Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman, references and consumes the drink throughout the show and at one point in later seasons visits and invests in the distillery. Nick Offerman does in fact hold Lagavulin dear and so the two went into partnership together and released the first Offerman Edition in 2019. The first edition was a straight 11 year scotch and the second edition in 2021 was finished in Guinness casks. This third Offerman Edition uses American red wine and European oak casks for the entire maturation that have been shaved down and heavily re-charred.
Distillery: Lagavulin
Region: Islay
Age: 11 years
Strength: 46%
Price: $79.99
Maturation: ex-red wine and European oak casks
Location: Port Ellen
Nose: Smoke, corn syrup, spice, wintergreen, cinnamon, peat, molasses, char, medicinal
Palate: Smoke, char, peat, long pepper
Finish: Char, wintergreen, clove
Comments: No water is needed. Forbes ran a fun article on this particular edition. Be sure to allow this dram time to breathe. Don’t judge by the first sniff.
Adam – I was taken aback by the sweetness in the nose, the peat intertwined with molasses and light spice. Like home, if you like your scotch a certain way. Some smoke enters on the palate but for having char prominent on the labeling, it is less prominent than I would have expected. This is not a bad thing, as it allows room for the other elements to play together before finishing wreathed in light wintergreen, leaving you refreshed. I’ll admit to being a little hesitant about going in on this bottle, since having a celebrity association does nothing if the whisky in play is not good, but Lagavulin appears to have crafted a very good scotch in this Offerman Edition that is perhaps closer in feeling to the iconic 16 than any other offering I’ve sampled. I think the key element here is one of the things we noted about the 16, which is that of balance. This balance is key to elevating all the parts and making them more together than they are on their own.
Kate – The Offerman Edition smells like fall. Stewed apples and campfire in an orchard. Let’s make a fall compote over a fire outside. I really like this. Once this Lagavulin opens up, it’s this gorgeous fall bouquet. Even though it’s an Islay, it’s not terribly peaty on the nose, which makes it feel more autumnal. It doesn’t give away all of it’s cards at once. As soon as it washes across my tongue, I’m back on Islay. That sour, apple cider fresh mixed with the peat and the medicinal quality is light in the back. The core components of Lagavulin are there but they’ve balanced them interestingly. The Lagavulin remix. And I just love this finish, warm without being too intense. It leaves you with that lingering feeling after a great dessert. How your sweatshirt smells after you’ve left the campfire. The palate brings to mind the Fireside apple, which I’ve only ever found at Deardorff Orchards in Waconia, Minnesota during the fall. Sweet, tart and smoky.
Henry – A comforting and inviting nose of orange oil, light peat, and notes of baked apples with cream, with an undertone of lovely brine. A surprisingly sweet palate with balanced char – present yet not overbearing, and which bows out elegantly before the end of the finish. A wonderfully light and surprisingly friendly dram. The char, while present, never leans towards the sour or acrid.
Ben – It’s like you’ve got the Christmas in the fire pit and a little bit of that smell comes up. It’s sweet. Not quite rosemary. There’s a little black pepper on the palate but it’s broader. It explodes for a second, like Pop rocks, wrapping the tip of the tongue to make it complete. All that char makes it seem like the peat flavor will be smoky but it’s not. When the peat flavor rises up it’s like a phoenix, a green char that happens on the tongue. You’re sipping an experience. The finish hangs on to that vegetal peat.
Like home, if you like your scotch a certain way.
Bill – There’s a pungent-ness of tar. Woody on the taste. Like bog oak.
Mike – It’s like going home.
Evelyn – I really like this Offerman Edition. It’s extraordinary how long the flavor lasts. You’re sipping it and you’re still tasting it and then you’re still tasting it.
Sam – There’s an explosion of pine on the tongue but then there’s some golden syrup. Super astringent and smoky. There’s a little bit of spruce. European long peppers on the palate. It’s smoky and it’s kinda green. This is a smoke show. This is like eating well burnt beef brisket.
