Finlaggan

Finlaggan

No: 265

Location: Islay

This is a rebadged single Islay malt - opinions vary on which one. The following discussion took place on the malts mailing list May-July 1995, edited by jhb:

Having been to Loch Finlaggan I find it very unlikely that there was ever a distillery there, and even nearby Ballygrant shows no signs of having had one. Is it a rebadge? I guessed that (from Geographical location and the sweetness) it was likely to be Caol Ila or Bunnahabhain. [tr]

I noticed bottles in a shop on the main street in Bowmore. It has a picture of what looks like a Viking ( Lord of the isles) on it, but the whisky is from one of the distilleries on Islay and from the top of my head I think it is Laphroig [as]

It definitely wasn't one of the Islay three Bs. It didn't taste like Laphroaig or Lagavulin or like the Ardbeg I have tried. I have never had Port Ellen, so that is a question mark (were Port Ellen and Ardbeg producing whisky in 1980?). If I had to take a guess I would say Caol Ila (but I tried this one once about two years ago and don't remember it that well) [ag]

tasting note

Finlaggan single Islay malt, 14 yr (1980, bottled 1994) Nice pale colour, very "Islay" in the nose: lots of smoke, intermingled with sweet malt. Felt a bit viscous in the mouth and a lot less smoky that the smell made you expect. It was like tasting a recipe for biscuits (well, if you use malt instead of sugar and throw a little peat in): butter, a pinch of salt, a dash of lemon... The flavour gets very persistent but very smooth too. [ag]

This smells-smoky-without-tasting-smoky aspect reminds me of a Caol Ila I once had and doesn't remind me of any of the Port Ellen bottlings I have tried. [fy]

[ag] Ana Gonzalez
[as] Andy Sutherland
[fy] Felix Yen
[tr] Timothy Roddis

Search Dr. Do'g's index for the history of Finlaggan
There just might be some news about Finlaggan in The "Scotsman" newspaper