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.
The show "Parks and Recreation" led me to want to try this whiskey, as one of the Iconic characters refuses to drink any whiskey besides this one, so I assumed it was a man's drink. The show was right. This is a great and powerful, smokey and flavorful whiskey. Definitely worth the price.
An experienced drinker wouldn't dream of mixing a single malt with coke or anything for that matter especially the Lagavulin 16. Perhaps you are an experienced drinker of cheap whiskeys?
Is this a joke? "Experienced drinker" "If like me you like to mix your whisky with coke" "There are much better drams out there"
Please be warned by an experienced drinker - this does not mix well at all. If like me you like to mix your whisky with coke, irn bru or lemon then this is not for you. There are much better drams out there.
I've seen this Scotch described as "massively peaty"...whilst it's certainly peaty....it's not massive...not in the same league as Ardbeg or Laphroaig....but it's certainly very nice...spicy and rich and full of tatse...it's not amazing but a lovely scotch, and reasonably cheap..so try it.
