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.
It has been a while since I've a bottle of this whisky, which is strange since for years it was my favourite. I opened my new bottle last evening and was pleased to find it as excellent as I remembered. The nose was peat and sea and the first thing to hit me on the palate was the dry peaty smoke that ended with salt and pepper and went on forever. Great to get a 16 yo Islay for this price, too. Well done MoM.
This is a scotch that is truly amazing...if you are in the right mood. I find it is best in cold weather. Especially for the price, it has extreme depth and flavor. However, if you don't like smoke, you definitely will not like this one. What I like is the way the smoke somehow transforms into sweet...on the nose and on the palate.
Tastes like a camp fire
Nirvanic waters, majestic malt, tindered stew, just plain delicious !!!
Lagavulin 16's distinctive smokey notes and sweetness make this an excellent drink with a a cubano cigar with some smoked oysters. Kick your feet up and enjoy the vida loca.
