The King of Islay in his prime, fiercely rampant, with a clarity of vision and a sense of purpose none can deny.

A glorious and classic Lagavulin, with an intensity, saltiness and sweetness that balance perfectly as perfumed wood smoke rises to envelop them all; absolutely delicious.

Tasting notes:

Appearance: Lustrous pale straw-gold.

Body: Medium.

Nose: Mild, drying and soon, wonderfully aromatic; clean, fresh and maritime, with top notes of sea air and Himalayan salt, supported by fragrant smoke-dried Lapsang Souchong tea, mineral salts and light cleansing salve. Beneath these lie drier notes of cocoa powder and dried seaweed, with a squeeze of lemon zest, this salty sweetness imbued with wood-smoke from a distant bonfire on the shore.

Palate: The texture is smooth and attractively oily; the taste sweet to start then soon growling with an intense lemon acidity, with a sprinkling of sea-salt and persistent char talking each sip. The overall salty-sweet taste is rounded, softened and sweetened by a drop of water.

Finish: Long, with great waves of smoke, and roaring with chili pepper warmth. Even better with a dash of water. Smoke lasts wonderfully in the aftertaste.

Tasting notes by Serge Valentin, WhiskyFun 92/100

Exclusively refill, a legendary age and a solid strength, I can't see what could go wrong. Maybe a stork making a low pass over WF's terrace and stealing my glass? Well, let me first get my old riffle and we shall then proceed…

Colour: white wine. Nose: Lagavulin 12 CS always feels like home. Astounding mineral, tarry, slightly terpene-y arrival on the nose, then flints, peat, smoked turnips (why wouldn't one do that) and smoky grist. Very compact. With water: no one can beat a manzanilla-like profile. Please pass the langostinos!

Mouth (neat): sends shivers down your spine, looks like they finally managed to smoke lemons. Then they added fresh almond paste and just sea water. Absolutely awesome.

With water: all right, all right. Sublime saltiness, oysters, manzanilla indeed, flint smoke, drops of lime juice, a drop of Andalusian olive oil (obviously)… Have I written that I find this sublime?

Finish: long, tight, greener, lemony, fresh. In the aftertaste, a feeling of having wolfed down a whole jar of pickled samphires.

Comments: Lagavulin 12 CS may be like the iPhone, every year they raise the definition. The good news is that you don't need any cables to make it work. Seriously, this new one is totally splendid. Whichever the price, which I don't know about at time of writing, it's B-F-Y-B whisky.