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.
Enjoyed it on Christmas Eve after a great meal.
When you come across this drop all you can do is Respect the Scotch.
Very smooth, peaty, but it leaves something to be desired on the finish. I ended up buying a 2nd bottle after the first just to make sure I wasn't missing anything, and it was consistent with the first. Just doesn't do it for me entirely. The strange thing is it did leave me with some desire for it after the fact and I did go back for that 2nd bottle. There is something hidden there I may just not have identified. After the 2nd bottle though, I'm still scratching my head trying to figure it out and I think the desire may have just been the missing components I was looking for that just were not there with this whisky and hoping I would find. Overall not a bad whisky, but moving on.
This is my favorite Islay. In my area it is pricey. What can I say perfection isn't cheap.
Lagavulin 16 is easily the most beautifully crafted thing ever bottled. A distinct but not overwhelming peat flavor with notes of sea spray to begin. After a few sips the notes of caramel and (I am in the minority opinion with this but..) chocolate covered raisins come through. I wish I can give it more than a 10-10 because that just doesn't seem good enough.
