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.
Best wicket around! Not for beginners.
I really enjoy the bold flavor, it is a new favorite. Excellent drink.
First tried this while sitting around a bonfire. It has a great smoky flavor. I told my wife it was like I was drinking the bonfire. It is an excellent scotch.
The Lagavulin 16 is a calm explosion of nose, plate and finish. Fruity, smoky and incredibly rich. It exudes excellence and is well worth its price. However, it is a bit too sweet for my taste. Perhaps that is preferred by some, but this Lagavulin is in my opinion more suitable to accompany a desert. The sweetness simply becomes too overbearing when enjoyed on its own.
I'm seeing reviews about how it has color added and it's cool filtered and how that affects the flavor. Who cares? I don't care what they put in it our what they take it if it. The only thing that matters to me is what comes out of the bottle and what comes out of the bottle is a darn fine whisky.
