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Scotsman
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Feis Ile 2025: Limited edition festival whiskies from Lagavulin, Jura, Bowmore and Ardbeg - prices and how to buy
This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement. From peaty whiskies such as Ardbeg and Caol Ila, to lighter drams from Bunnahanhain, Islay has something for all whisky tastes including the range of Fèis Ìle 2025 Festival bottlings Fèis Ìle is Islay's renowned whisky, culture and music festival, and runs this year from the 23 May until 31 May. Each of the nine Islay distilleries have their own festival day which can include tours, tastings and live music. Here we take a look at what festival bottlings are on offer and how you can snap up a bottle. Lagavulin This year, Lagavulin is inviting fans to discover new depths of flavour with Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2025 15 Year-Old. Finished in Moscatel de Málaga casks, this expression showcases a masterful balance of sweet and spicy notes while retaining Lagavulin's distinctive smokiness. This rich and complex bottling offers aromas of salted toffee, and ripe berries, interwoven with maritime medicinal undertones. The palate is luxuriously smooth and creamy, harmonising flavours of sweetness, salt, spice, and smoke. It culminates in a long, drying finish with that lingering fragrant Lagavulin smoke and a captivating note of Sichuan pepper spice. Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2025 15 Year-Old is bottled at 55.7% ABV, with an RRSP of £240, available to be purchased from the distillery and There will be a total of 1,596 bottles. Caol Ila In a bold new move, Caol Ila is introducing an exciting new dimension of flavour with Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2025 8 Year-Old. This whisky has been matured in a unique combination of refill casks and Pedro Ximénez /Oloroso-seasoned casks, before being finished in new Colombian Oak casks. The result is a burst of bold yet harmonious flavours. As whisky expert Charles MacLean puts it, 'even at reduced strength, the taste is intense!'. T his release explores Caol Ila's waxy character, delivering an intensely smooth, oily texture and a richer, unexpectedly sweet profile emerging from the Colombian Oak cask finish. The whisky's complex smoke is amplified by layers of spice notes and peppery warmth. Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2025 8 Year-Old is bottled at 55.8% ABV, with an RRSP of £110, available to be purchased from the distillery and There will be a total of 1,476 bottles. Laphroaig Laphroaig will welcome Friends of Laphroaig and whisky lovers from around the world to the distillery on Tuesday 27 May for Laphroaig Open Day. Guests can expect a full day of festivities that capture the spirit of the distillery and its island home – from traditional music and dancing to the warmth of peat fires and the unmistakable aroma of Laphroaig's signature smoky whisky. Laphroaig will mark Fèis Ìle 2025 with its latest Càirdeas expression, Lore Cask Strength – a bold, richly layered single malt that completes our series of cask strength versions of well-known Laphroaig whiskies. With Càirdeas meaning 'friendship' in Gaelic, this release allows Friends of Laphroaig to discover exciting expressions matured in creative casks, and new twists to the iconic Islay Single Malt. Crafted as a marriage of five of Laphroaig's favourite cask types - including ex-Bourbon, Oloroso sherry, European oak, and quarter casks - this expression is non-chill filtered and bottled at natural cask strength, delivering the distillery's most intense flavour profile yet. On the nose, the whisky is sweet, herbal and boldly peaty, with a fruity expression opening with aromas of apricot, peaches in syrup, lemon cream, coconut and vanilla fudge. The palate delivers an explosion of peat and salty sea spray, followed by lemon zest, salted limes, caramel, and herbal notes of mint and tea leaves. Delicate spices like cumin, cloves and ginger emerge, leading to a long, citrus-sweet finish with an enduring phenolic character that defines Laphroaig. Laphroaig Càirdeas Lore Cask Strength SRP is £89 and is on sale exclusively from the distillery shop from Saturday 24 May. Bowmore Bowmore will open the gates to Islay's oldest licensed distillery on Wednesday 28th May for Bowmore Open Day. Set against the stunning backdrop of Loch Indaal, the distillery will come alive with exclusive tastings and experiences, each designed to showcase the craftsmanship behind their whisky. To celebrate this year's festival, Bowmore is proud to unveil an exclusive Fèis Ìle release – a 100% floor-malted single cask bottling. The Bowmore Fèis Ìle 2025 exclusive embodies Bowmore's commitment to quality, innovation and its time-honoured whisky-making tradition. Crafted with intent, and filled entirely by hand in the No. 1 Vaults, this captivating single malt reflects Bowmore's long-standing artisanal philosophy. On the nose, it is intense and spicy with blackcurrant, liquorice root, leather, and peat smoke. The palate is sweet and oily, with floral notes, charred orange rind, black cherry, with a long, lingering, almost chewy finish. Bowmore Fèis Ìle 2025 exclusive SRP is £120 and is on sale from the Bowmore distillery from Wednesday 28 May. Jura Jura Whisky is selling a new single cask release to celebrate this year's Fèis Ìle Festival. On 30 May Jura will be welcoming whisky lovers to its beachside distillery, with tours of the distillery on offer as well as tastings, live music, cocktails and boat tours exploring Jura's beautiful coastline. To mark the 2025 festival, a very special expression will be released limited to just 300 bottles, exclusively available to the whisky-lovers who visit Jura in-person during Fèis Ìle. Joe Ricketts, whisky maker, explained: 'For this year's Fèis Ìle single cask release we've revisited a standout 2007 vintage parcel. In 2022 the whisky making and distillery teams selected #1892, a bold, rich oloroso butt which explored a different side to Jura's distillery character. 'With an additional three years maturation, #1895 builds on the complexity of our 2022 Fèis Ìle release, with notes of crystallised citrus, prune and hazelnut together with hints of polished leather and dark chocolate from its full-course Sherry maturation.' This whisky is available exclusively at the Jura distillery between 23 May and 31 May 2025 with an RSP of £135. Ardbeg Marking 25 years of the Ardbeg Committee, this year's festivities on Saturday 31 May are, the team say, set to be out of this world. At the distillery and across the globe, Ardbeg will transport smoky malt lovers' taste-buds to a fruity new dimension, with Ardbeg Smokiverse, the limited edition whisky released for the festival. This limited edition will be the Islay distillery's first whisky crafted from a high-gravity mash, resulting in a distinctly vibrant, tropical and fruity spirit. This unconventional 'high-gravity' mash magnified the intensity of flavour-active compounds known as acetate esters, leading to a fruitier, more tropical spirit. Aged in bourbon casks, this Ardbeg whisky unveils layers of muscovado sugar, ripe barley, and toasted sourdough bread, all culminating in a burst of ripe tropical fruits and sweet peat. Ardbeg Smokiverse will be available to buy worldwide from Ardbeg Embassies, whisky specialists, online retailers, the Distillery Visitor Centre on Islay, and on from 28 May.
The Herald Scotland
19-05-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Visiting Lagavulin, Coal Ila and Bowmore on Scotland's 'whisky island'
I have a special place in my heart for this beautiful island, and it is definitely one of my absolute favourite places on earth. We were visiting for a little holiday with family, although this drinks writer never rests when there are distilleries nearby, so of course we could not resist a couple of spirit-focused stops. We had three different whisky distilleries on our itinerary as well as one rum distillery during our time on the island, so let me tell you a little bit more about them all. I have had the pleasure of taking part in tastings at Lagavulin in the past, but have never managed to do a tour around the production areas and was thrilled to finally be able to do so this time around. I never really feel like I've properly visited a distillery until I've seen the still room, as it's my favourite part. Lagavulin feels very traditional and charming. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories that our excellent tour guide Sophie told us about the history of the distillery and the people who had worked there in the past. Lagavulin Distillers Edition also happens to be one of my dad's favourite whiskies, so it was important to me have the opportunity to visit with him. Visiting distilleries where you have a personal connection will always be extra special. The only distillery on the island that I have never even stood outside of, is Caol Ila. So obviously it's been the one distillery that I've been the most curious about, especially as it's located in such a beautiful part of the island where it looks over towards Jura. And it did not disappoint. The views are incredible and we enjoyed a lovely tasting of five whiskies straight from the casks. Read more: One of the highlights was trying an unpeated Caol Ila, and I find it fascinating when you can try peated and unpeated spirit from the same distillery right next to each other as you understand the spirit in a completely different way. A smoky character is lovely in a whisky, but it can often be quite powerful and have a tendency to overpower the spirit. I did not see the production areas this time around, but I will definitely be back! I did not know what to expect at our third distillery, which was Bowmore. It is such an old distillery and seems very traditional as well, but this was one of the best distillery tours I have ever done so it definitely surpassed my expectations. As the distillery was not in production, we got to see pretty much everything and when I say everything, we even got to stand both inside of the kiln and on top on the kiln floor where the barley lays when it gets malted, which I have never done before. If you get the chance to try an older Bowmore in ex-bourbon casks, I would highly recommend it - we tried one straight from a 2006 cask and it was incredible. Just before leaving the island we also managed a quick tour around Islay Rum, which can be found on the outskirts of Port Ellen. On an island known for its whisky, why not make rum? I particularly like the white rum Geal which is very approachable and has a lovely tropical character, but for die-hard whisky enthusiasts perhaps the barrel aged rum would be the go-to as it has (of course) been matured in ex-islay casks which imparts a lovely smoke to it. My whisky of the week was one of the drams included in the line up of our tasting at Lagavulin Distillery: the 14-Year-Old Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival 2024 release. This whisky has been matured in first fill ex-bourbon initially before being finished in ex-South African Cabernet Sauvignon wine casks. It had a lovely sweetness and quite a tropical character of both pineapple and vanilla, blending together with an intriguing bonfire smoke. When I returned to this whisky after having tried the remainder of the line up, it had an intense note of gorse flower (often described as similar to pineapple or coconut) on the nose. I could imagine this being an excellent whisky for late summer evenings
Daily Record
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Iconic Scottish distilleries to release special edition whiskies for Fèis Ìle 2025
Two of Islay's renowned distilleries, Lagavulin and Caol Ila, are preparing to dazzle whisky lovers once again at Fèis Ìle 2025 with the unveiling of two striking limited-edition releases, each offering a fresh twist on the distilleries' classic characters. Lagavulin, which made some of the most popular whiskies of last year , is set to unveil its Fèis Ìle 2025 15 Year-Old, finished in Moscatel de Málaga casks. This rare expression adds unexpected sweetness and spice to Lagavulin's signature smokiness, creating a multi-layered whisky experience. On the nose, it opens with salted toffee and ripe berries, underpinned by the brand's hallmark maritime and medicinal notes. Lagavulin's special edition 15 Year Old is bottled at a robust 55.7 per cent ABV and priced at £240. Only 1,596 bottles of this rich, smoky single malt will be available, sold through the distillery and online via The palate is creamy and rich, with a balanced profile of sweet, salty, spicy and smoky flavours. A long, dry finish follows, laced with fragrant Lagavulin smoke and a surprising kick of Sichuan pepper. 'Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Lagavulin and, this year, we wanted to offer something truly special,' said Lagavulin Distillery Manager Jordan Paisley. 'While researching our archives, we discovered a reference to Moscatel de Málaga hogshead casks, which inspired this release. The result is a beautifully complex whisky that adds layers to our signature smoke. We're excited to share it with our fans at Fèis Ìle.' Meanwhile, Caol Ila is pushing boundaries with its special edition for Fèis Ìle, The Isay Festival, which runs from Friday, May 23, to Saturday, May 31. Caol Ile is bringing out a bold 8 Year Old release that explores new flavour territory. This special bottling has been matured in refill casks and a mix of Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso-seasoned casks, then finished in Colombian Oak, a first for the distillery. The result is a dram that surprises with its smooth, waxy texture and richly sweet character, amplified by Caol Ila's signature smoky depth. Notes of spice and peppery heat further enhance its complexity. Caol Ila's 8 Year Old festival expression comes in at 55.8 per cent ABV, retailing for £110. A total of 1,476 bottles will be released, also available both at the distillery and on Describing the dram, whisky expert Charles MacLean said: 'Even at reduced strength, the taste is intense!' Martin Gaughan, Caol Ila's newly appointed Distillery Manager, said he's especially excited to share the distillery's latest creation, and to mark a personal milestone. 'This release is all about exploration, both for us who enjoy Caol Ila and all the new visitors to Islay during Fèis Ìle,' he said. 'The finish in Colombian Oak casks has brought a fascinating twist, enhancing Caol Ila's natural richness with unexpected sweet and spicy layers. I can't wait for all of our fans to experience it first-hand at my first Fèis Ìle as Caol Ila's Distillery Manager.' Both the Lagavulin and Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2025 editions will be available to buy on their respective open days, offered on a first come first served basis. Lagavulin Day will take place on Saturday, May 24, followed by Caol Ila Day on Monday, May 26. The celebrations don't stop at whisky releases. Each distillery is set to host a full day of tastings, music and exclusive events . Lagavulin's programme includes 'Beyond The Smoke', an immersive sensory experience hosted by Distillery Manager Jordan Paisley and Private Client Host Barry Nisbet. This guided tasting delves into the history and craftsmanship behind the distillery's iconic smoke character, and includes a rare sample of a 17 Year-Old Lagavulin. At Caol Ila, 'Flavour & History' takes centre stage. This interactive blending session allows guests to create their own custom 200ml whisky blend. Led by Rory Slater, who worked on this year's Fèis Ìle bottling, alongside Senior Malts Archivist Jo McKerchar, the event provides a hands-on journey through the flavours and stories that define Caol Ila's legacy. Later in the week, on Wednesday, May 28, Caol Ila will host a special 'Manager's Evening'. Distillery leaders from Caol Ila, Lagavulin, Port Ellen and The Maltings will come together for a Q&A session and tasting. The evening offers guests the chance to engage directly with the people behind the drams, while sampling a range of premium hand-selected malts. Tickets for Fèis Ìle 2025 are still available via for those eager to take part in the world's largest whisky and music celebration.
