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 a reasonable dram but nothing compared to the Ardbegs or Laphroaigs. The much more mellow peatiness of this makes it a good cool-down after a couple of the former whiskies though. It's a fun feeling to have the peatiness of a Laphroaig still lingering in your nose while you sip on one of these. However even that said, I far prefer the Distiller's Edition if getting a Lagavulin--the sweetness makes it a bit more rounded than the rotten driftwood flavor I get from this one. Still I wouldn't turn it down, and it's substantially better than many more expensive whiskies I've tried, slightly better than the similar Talisker 18.
There is no better islay whisky. The Ardbeg freaks need to take heed.
Just tasted this. I have tasted some great whiskies, this has to be a favorite in my collection! Magnificent whiskey, for its age and price
This was my first ever single malt. I remember driving home, thinking "50€ is at the very peak of my financial capabilities, so this better be good and worth the reviews". And I wasn't disappointed. Somewhere I had read that if you choose Lagavulin as your first ever single malt, the rest might never feel that good again. Well, it's absolutely right! Not that there aren't any better whiskies in the world: there probably are. But for a first ever single malt: this is indeed incredibly good! Easy to drink, perfect balance between peat, smoke and sherry. After drinking about 15cl, you still feel that amazing peat after-taste even after 10-15 minutes. Truly special stuff, highly recommended!
Amazing taste, needs 20 swirls before drinking, get ready to have a totally different Scotch experience.
