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.
To the folks complaining that Lag is just too smoky--one person asks how to "mitigate the smoke"--this IS A SMOKY ISLAY scotch. You wouldn't go to one of the original meat market smokehouses in Lockhart, Texas, taste their brisket and then go up to the counter and ask them how to get rid of the smoke. You wouldn't call up the Cohiba factory and Cuba and ask them why the maduros you just got taste so...smoky. Here's how to "mitigate the smoke": give that bottle to someone who appreciates it, and enjoy your Chivas and your Tony Roma's ribs.
Ignore Beware the Mix, he's been trolling on several whiskey threads with the same stuff: "doesn't mix well with my Doctor Pepper", "doesn't go so well with my lucozade" etc
The lag 16 gives a peat smoke flavour so refined as to be a standard against which others are measured. A classic peated islay to be kept always on hand to teach of peat smoke pure and tasteful.
Shared amongst brothers. Very well received. The most satisfying and tasty malt my under experienced palate has tasted. Should have bought 2 bottles.
Nose is smoky, salty iodine, with subtle mint and citrus. Very smooth on the tongue, thick peat, smoky goodness. Long smooth smoky finish, ahhhh
