Lagavulin 16 Year Old is truly a benchmark Islay whisky. It’s loved for its deep, earthy, and maritime character with rich notes of dried fruit, vanilla, and smokiness that comes from Islay peat but is more akin to Lapsang Souchong tea in profile.
Before Lagavulin 16, the distillery did have a 12-year-old single malt. But when Diageo launched the Classic Malt series in the 1980s, Lagavulin 16 Year Old was introduced and became the distillery's flagship bottling. It received a boost in popularity after featuring in Parks and Recreation as a favourite drink of Nick Offerman’s character Ron Swanson. Offerman has since collaborated with the distillery on several occasions.
If you're looking for a food pairing for this beauty, try intensely flavoured salty blue cheeses, which complement the intense, peat-rich, sweet and salty character of this Lagavulin wonderfully.
More like Lapsang Souchong tea than Lapsang Souchong! One of the smokiest noses from Islay. It's big, very, very concentrated, and redolent of iodine, sweet spices, good, mature Sherry and creamy vanilla. Stunning.
Very thick and rich. A massive mouthful of malt and Sherry with good fruity sweetness, but also a wonderful sweetness. Big, powerful peat and oak.
Long, spicy finish, figs, dates, peat smoke, vanilla.
World class, big hitter, in every aspect,simply brilliant,,, the Kenny Dalglish of whiskeys,,, ? ?
Simply brilliant, the best of all the Islay single malt whiskys,, full of smoke and charcoal flavours,, great tasting at all levels,,,
Simply the finest Islay has to offer, it smells wonderful with the not so subtle smoky aroma from the bottle and tastes better. I find a splash of water helps you appreciate the flavour. Probably not the whisky for an introduction to smoky / peaty malts but never forgotten once tried. My favourite whisky of any region
My girlfriend got me another bottle of Lag for Christmas. This just edges Ardbeg Uigeadail as my favourite single malt. I never tire of it! It's absolutely superb, such a lovely vanilla finish to it, it makes the long Scottish Winter evenings almost something to look forward to!
I never had the privilege of trying "old" Lagavulin, however, against current affordable everyday Islay whisky such as Laphroaig 10, Ardbeg etc, I can't help but rate Lagavulin 16 ahead of them, it's just an exquisite single malt that is well worth the price. While my dram of choice is Laphroaig 10 cask strength, if it happens to be unavailable at a sensible price, I would wholly recommend Lagavulin 16, and if that's not available then Ardbeg 10. Ardbeg 10 packs more punch but Lagavulin truly is a multi-layered gem of a scotch that reacts well to small amounts of water and you can play with all night.
