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.
This is the only bottle in the world that I always make sure I have two of. An open one, and one behind it on case the zombie apocalypse comes before I can buy another. True story...
I had my first taste of this whisky about 10 years ago and never looked back. It isn't for the meek or first time tasters but if you have been meddling with some other malts and want to go up and taste what it is like to taste the best, then treat yourself. Savour this flavour and you will never go back. This is the Usain Bolt of smokey whisky from Islay. Simply the best...
This is by far one of the best whisky's I've ever drank.
Warm, earthy, with just enough sweetness. If you don’t like smoke, don’t drink it. If you do, you won’t find a better Scotch.
How can I have been so ignorant of this whisky until now? Absolutely outstanding, and by far the most balanced whisky I've had so far. I started off avoiding peated whiskies but this is so smooth and luxurious that the peat adds to it. As another reviewer commented, this is like the Rolls Royce of whiskies!
