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.
Peat, campfire ashes, sweet and salty, brine, roasted chestnuts and aromatic notes of the sea. A Superb dram for the discerning Scotch drinker. Wish it were bottled at a higher abv.
I'm also cynically unimpressed with the big corp mentality, and whilst it tuned my head to the dark side 25 years ago, it's not what it was, or maybe everyone else just does it better for less? I prefer Talisker 10, and Talisker Storm, in fact the Tesco only Highland Park Dragon thing is a more rounded and an equal a fist in a velvet glove perhaps. I think that Ardbeg has got the crown of the smoky peaty monster well and truly in its grip, and the Laga is not the benchmark it once was, especially at it's over now over-inflated price.
The cognac of scotches.... like a depth charge, a sip goes whoooomphhh
Oak and smoke, that's not a joke. Sherry and berry, yes it's sweet, and all the peat... Then an old cigar and a hint of tar. But... Now my poem went too far..:)-
Great smoky taste. It's like an explosion inside your mouth with a gentle but heavenly smoky fire. It's awesome. Just love it.
