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.
I just went to BevMo with intent to buy a 50 dollar bottle of a good peaty Islay single malt I hadn't tried before. They didn't have any, so I agreed to get upsold to a bottle of this instead. I was very excited to get home and try a sip. Having now done so, I can say: it is certainly tasty, but I would still actually prefer the Laphroaig 10 even if it weren't half the price. This whiskey is certainly distinctively Islay, but so is the Laphroaig. The Laphroaig isn't quite as smooth, but it makes up for that in being also quite a bit less bitter (smoky doesn't mean bitter! The Oban 12 I've had was just as smoky as these two, but *crazy* sweet!). Will I enjoy the rest of this bottle? Yes I will. But I wouldn't buy it again, when I could get a bottle of Laphroaig 10 for half the price, and enjoy it (slightly) more.
What is TCP and how would you know what it tastes like? Lagavulin was my first Islay. I always keep coming back to it. Among the very best malts ever.
The first exposure was at deer hunting camp.A good friend had my father and i try it. Whilst my father thought it to be lighter fluid, I enjoyed it so much that I purchased a bottle @ 50 American dollars. It did something no bottle has ever done, it lasted a year in my cabinet. My palate not as sharp as many could taste the depth in each drop.Literally I would take 10 ml at a time and put a drop on my tongue .Wonderful explosion of mossy peat smoke.Although more expensive now I am saving!
To me, this is a beautiful combination of the peatiness of a good southern Islay, with the fruity richness and drying finish of a top quality Speyside (reminds me of the Balvenie Caribbean Cask). I have never tasted anything that manages to take such powerful and distinct flavors and balance them without making them taste diluted. I could go an entire evening just smelling a dram.
Always wanted to try this. recently acquired the same. It was worth the wait. amazing on the nose and palate as well. don't forget to add dash of water it definitely brings out the best. Going to savour this. Will ensure it is always in my cabinet.
