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.
I wasn’t ready for the smokiness but was quite impressed over time. The smoothness and mellow aftertaste is sweet perfection. Sadly I can’t go 5 stars because I tried it in the wrong setting. But knowing what I know now I’d find the perfect snack to go with. It might also be my phobia of liquid smoke in food or sauces. But very impressive and belongs in the cabinet for sure
The long spicy finish is great! I'm just a begginner and I really like smoky and "corsé" brevage. This one did impress me for my first Islay malt! 9/10
This Islay beauty is an exceptional balance of sweet and savory notes. The nose is met with a woody char with dried fruits and a hint of mint. The palate has a delicious BBQ brisket flavor with caramelized brown sugar, phenols and sweet almonds ion the back.
From Australia. When the Lagavulin was imported from Islay with the little "Property of the Distillery" paper seal it was a magnificent dram. Sadly since the paper seal disappeared the quality has dropped as well . Nobody has owned up to this, why?
A whisky that is delicious and characterized by well balanced flavor or peat, smoke, dried fruits, salted toffee and coastal wafts of seaweed and shoreline breeze. Pairing this with brisket, double smokedy cheese and red grapes is heaven only to be complimented by a Cubano at the end . Cheers.
