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.
Liquid gold with a momentous palate and lasting finish. Well balanced notes of peat, smoke, dried fruit and oaky salted toffee in the back. Paired with BBQ brisket, smoky cheese and red grapes can only be beaten by a nice Cubano to follow. Magnificent !
This is how all whisky should be, very elegant, classic and luxurious, very satisfying sipping whisky, very suitable for fathers like me!
Tastes like industrial cleaner.
I tried my very first Lagavulin 16, on Monday evening. What a wonderful dram! Left it in the glass for a good 16 minutes, nosing continually. It is, without doubt, the most beautiful single malt I have ever had the pleasure to taste! Wonderful.
I was given a dram at a local bar and it was my first sampling of this single malt whisky. Needless to say it was love at first nose and taste. Who cares if a little coloring is added or it is chill filtered??? The taste blows those considerations away. If you can make a whisky this good by adding those ingredients then please Sir I want more .... brilliant Diageo !
