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.
As a Laphroig man i was eagre to taste this .I must say this is very,very nice whiskey.The smoke, peat,Fruity sweetness,oak all shine through really enjoyable taste an overall Excellent whiskey !!!!
So far my penultimate. And to the ridiculous single bloke commenting below...I hope it is giving you solace. Me? keeping some under my petticoats
20 years on as a single malt drinker, never tasted anything better as yet. Not for everyone surely, as it takes many years to develop the palate. I used to drink neat but use little ice nowadays. Always keep one at home. Very refined.
Bought a bottle of this just after Christmas and I'm fairly new to Whisky. Heard a lot of great stuff about it which does NO justice for it. It's not only the best Whisky I've tried, it's one of the best drinks I've tried, Alcoholic or Non-Alcoholic. Must buy.
Make no mistake, this is a man's malt. Not one to argue with but one to embrace with sensitivity to maximise the taste enjoyment. Of course, the fair sex drinks malts too, but I doubt many of them will swap their Highland Park for this beast any time soon. Indeed even some men may well prefer a dram that's a little less in their face. Fortunately, my favourite tea is Lapsang Souchong. This is the alcoholic (and cold) version with a peaty smokiness that takes you straight to the distillery building. But that's not all. Uniquely dominant though the peat is, it's beautifully counterbalanced by rich spicy fruit & a reasonable snooze in the sherry barrel. I can guarantee that this is one malt that, once tasted, you'll never ever forget. Right, I'm off for a cup of Lapsang. Then again......!
