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.
Too smokey for this American of Irish descent. Not quite as strong as those that make me feel as is I licked the campfire, but it just doesn’t work for me.
Enjoyed looking at the bottle with a friend was not game to open it at $90 enjoyed a beer instead.
A friend is a dedicated Islay man.. im a novice, but wanted to see what the fuss was about.. Ive treated myself to a bottle of this... Novice or not.. this is spectacular.. Islay and Lagavulin 16 for me...when i have another excuse to treat myself! Wait..my birthday on January 1st.. first excuse covered!
It's like sitting downwind from a bonfire. I love it, and I'm a speyside guy. So masculine. I love it. Makes me live above my means like a true American.
My boyfriend cites Lagavulin 16 as his favorite whiskey (of laphroaig and glenlivet, I think). It's smoky, oaky, and vanilla-y, really smooth. Also, though it is ultimately overpriced as others have said here, you won't find a better product and shipping price than at Master of Malt; other sites prompted me to pay $100+ to have Lagavulin 16 sent to my boyfriend. My one complaint is about the gift message: I know it's free, but it comes in the form of a shitty sticker that I'm supposed to...what, stick directly on the bottle? Type or hand-write it on a pretty little card guys, c'mon. It's good whiskey, bejesus.
