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.
Top 3 scotch all time for me. Was a huge revelation for me the first time I tried it. I’m taking off a half star though due to the price increase (I bought it for £49 in Jan 2021 and now the lowest price I’ve found is 70!!). Really frustrating how much prices have gone up at so many of my favourite distilleries
A lovely dram, nice and smooth. Was hoping for more of a smoky kick at the end, but that's not detracting from a very nice weekend treat.
An absolute classic , sweet sherry notes combined with a well balanced peat smoke , tastes sophisticated and pleasing with a long finish of smokey vanilla and dried fruits , perfect for a malt moment by the sea.
I sadly wonder if Lagavulin has a bit of a problem meeting demand without affecting the quality. For nearly 30 years, it has been one of my favourite drinks on the planet. But it has become difficult to find in London, the price has risen quite sharply and the first bottle that I have managed to buy for about 6 months didn't seem to be of the quality I remember. It lacked the concentration, complexity and perfect balance of sweetness and peat that I loved. The bottle I have now is a bit boring and certainly not worth £65. I'd rather drink Ardbeg 10 than this bottle, which costs £20 more. I very much hope that I've just got an isolated bad bottle from a bad batch, as Lagavulin has been a life-enhancing pleasure and it would be tragic if it lost its character but looking at the site, others seem to be saying much the same thing.
Lovely malt, but it’s getting too pricey now. The jump from £49 to £75 is too much, too soon. It’s a £60 bottle if you get a good batch.
