J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Lagavulin)

Highly enjoyable if you like Islay Scotch. Extremely peaty nose, overwhelms the beer quite signifigantly. Flinty and lightly smoky, with a flavor of caramel and spicy white pepper. Really heavy mouthfeel, with some earth woody notes, a bit of vanilla, and dark fruits.

it has a certain frame of greatness, but the whiskey flavor takes down a notch due the fact the cask flavor are too overpowering and distracting. it good, but the flavors are too much to enjoy.

The aroma is smoky with wood, brown sugar, and malt. The appearance is amber with a small bubbly head. The flavor is like the aroma but not that smoky. The palate is smooth. Overall it’s not bad but the smoke smell dominates everything. This is still OK.

deep orange pour with slight off white head. Lagavulin shows through nicely on the nosesomewhat smokey and woody, deep sweetness. Flavor is full sweetness, vanilla, molasses, mild whiskey and wood with the whiskey really shining through toward the end of the sip. Whiskey is really becoming more pronounced as it warms up and it is really nice. I do love lagavulin though. Ends woody and with a nice syrupy coating. While I dont normally enjoy this level of syrupy body, it is really working for me in this case. I can’t stop sipping this. I only think this will get better with age.

An orangy color with virtually no head, slight lace along the surface edges. Smells strongly of the whiskey cask. Smoke and toffee as well. Very very sweet and tangy. Almost too sweet. Being as sweet as it is, it is only natural that it left my mouth a bit dry after I had been drinking it for a while. I could still very much taste the whiskey cask, the smokiness, and hints of raisins. Felt very syrupy and thick in the mouth, virtually no carbonation (as was to be expected.) Not a bad beer at all, certainly different than what I normally drink. All in all, I don’t think I’d be willing to spend seven bucks on this bottle again, but I’m glad I tried it. Serving type: bottle

Pours deep amber into a snifter. Oak and Lagavulin aromas. Sweet malts upfront smooth through the middle with an oaky whiskey finish.

a 2006 bottle. A great aroma in deed. A mix of leather, oak and peat were all present and well represented. Some softer sweet malt notes balanced this out. Flavor had a strong rich peaty single-malt scotch flavor initially, finishing with a sherry-like sweetness. A nice oak presence was prevalent throughout the beer and in the aftertaste. Great beer.

Great combination. The Smokeyness of Lagavulin really balances with the sweet present in a fresh bottle of the Lees. Perfect for the beer drinking scotch lover. Absolutely delicious.