Lagavulin 12 Year Old Grain & Embers (2025 Special Release)

Lagavulin 12 Year Old Grain & Embers was released in 2025 as part of Diageo’s annual Special Releases collection, titled Horizons Unbound. The series brings together eight cask strength single malts from across Diageo’s distilleries, selected by master blender Dr Stuart Morrison to highlight contrasting styles and maturation approaches.

Matured for a minimum of twelve years and bottled at natural cask strength, Grain & Embers remains firmly rooted in Lagavulin’s heavily peated house style. The whisky is drawn from a combination of refill European oak casks previously seasoned with Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry, with the cask selection designed to emphasise toasted, cereal-like and ember-driven notes alongside the distillery’s trademark smoke, rather than introducing any grain whisky component.

On the nose, dense peat smoke is layered with toasted grain, vanilla and smouldering oak. The palate is powerful yet balanced, showing concentrated smoke, malted cereal, cracked pepper and subtle sweetness, before a long, warming finish with lingering peat, dry spice and glowing embers.