Question Regarding Lagavulin 16
 

I got a bottle of this a couple weeks ago. Recently, I've been noticing an almost sour finish (reminds me of lemon juice a little bit). My first couple drinks of it I didn't notice it, I got a very nice finish that reminded me a bit of coffee.

Has anyone else noticed anything like this? What are the possible explanations?

Sounds like it has gone bad. You'd better just send it to me for disposal.

;)

Seriously- I have no idea, but I would try it again in a few days. You probably ate or drank something that didn't mix with it. That happens to me. Sometimes my whiskies change, but its not them, it's me.

Note: Do not drink wine or spirits after brushing with toothpaste. In my younger years I once had a waiter dispose of a $200 bottle of wine for dinner after sampling it as turned. After the maître d returned with another bottle, and it tasting the same, I quickly realized my mistake and replied the wine was prefect.

Haha, duly noted. I had another dram of the Laga last night with a clean palate and still noticed the odd finish/aftertaste...kind of a bummer after I liked it so much initially. Better get another bottle to investigate...

I've also noticed the tendency for my taste buds to be a bit fickle at times, even to the point of not liking some of my favorites just when I wanted to enjoy them.
The other night my much anticipated Uigeadail failed to bring the normal satisfaction that I've come to expect, but then I guess that's why we need several selections on hand at all times.
Lagavulin 16 is definitely worth another try.

My first thought, how long was the bottle opened from your first dram from the bottle until you had it and didn't like it as much?

Very few in the industry know enough to submit to the fact that spirits do go bad once opened. However, THEY DO GO BAD!

Depending on filtration, cask marriage, storage conditions (and this means from bottling, transport to market, time in distribution warehouses and retail shelves to the drinker's bar/home environment, hot/cold/light exposure) spirits can change negatively in bottle. Given a good bottle at opening, once a bottle is opened and has air contact, unless it's being preserved, you have 3-6 months to drink it at its best. Sometimes 2-6 weeks for more unique single cask-type bottlings. There are certain aldehydes that develop with air exposure that can, and do, negatively affect the spirit.

The problem is most people in the industry don't know this, and can't recognize it if they do! In fact, after 12 years in the industry and 30 years studying products, I've only met a handful of people who know this and purport it in their business dealings.

Phillip Hills' book Appreciating Whisky goes into this in some detail. He is the only one I've read who's drilled this point heavily!

The fact is, big peated malts like Lagavulin have so much going on in them that there is a lot that can go wrong, but people probably notice any issues in them less because of all of the things going on compared to say a bottle of Dalwhinnie or Glenkinchie that's been sitting open on a bar's shelf for three years.

My point being, it was likely not you but was likely your whisky.

My advice, only keep open what you can drink in 2-3 months. As opposed to having 100 whiskies and all of them open. For those like me whose bottles are part of their drinking collection, keep the empty bottles. I get through 6-10 bottles of whisky a month so I routinely will have 8-12 bottles open at home. I've toyed with buying a preservation system but now simply mark the date I open a whisky on the bottle's label and drink up in a timely manner. I call it self-preservation.

Living in New York, I have frequented most of bars with better whisky selections. None of them have anything in place for product preservation. I've subsequently had terribly drams poured me at Brandy Library, Keens Steakhouse, St. Andrews, Caledonia to name a few. I've also had the same issue at whisky bars and pubs in Scotland. The only two that have ever done anything when pointing out a bad dram is the Highlander Inn in Craigellachie and the Mashtun in Aberlour. So rather than try a rare whisky that's been open for 10 years in a pub, I tend to drink what's been opened most recently when I'm out.

I've noticed whisky does change once the bottle is opened. Seems like it doesn't take long at all... a few days even.

I originally signed up here to post my experience with storing whisky in flasks, since I couldn't find a post anywhere online of anyone keeping whisky in a flask more than a few days.

Last october I filled a flask with 10yr Laphroaig and it sat until now (mar 19th). That's 5 months. I had a sip and noticed a plastic/musty like taste. This is 86 proof stuff... shouldn't be anything growing in it. So I searched online for opinions about flasks, whisky storage, mold, etc and ended up here. I was about to post when I decided to get the original bottle and have a few sips to make sure the flask is really at fault. Well, the original bottle tastes just like the stuff in the flask! I can't taste any difference whatsoever. They both taste like crap. Well... crap with a sweet aftertaste. Anyway, I was all set to blame the little plastic foamy thing in the flask's cap that provides the seal, but now the only thing I can think happened is the whisky just expired.

The funny thing is... the flask was full. Almost no air at all inside. The flask is stainless, so no light got in. It was stored in a cupboard at house temps during winter right beside the bottle which was about empty with plenty of air inside. Some things just don't last... even if they are bottled properly. Islays have lots of complex chemicals that could possibly change on their own without air or light.

I know pepsi tastes terrible if the expiration date isn't at least a month away. Its March now, so if the bottle doesn't say May or at least late April, I won't buy it. Coke isn't like that, just pepsi.

I figure some things just naturally evolve, breakdown, oxidize, and react with other things which results in a change in flavor. Islays are very rich in flavor, so I figure they're more prone to flavor variances than the chill-filtered highlands.