Review #1 - Lagavulin 16 Year
The first review! I've been thinking about this for a while, building experience and a palate over the last few years. It's finally time to start the actual reviews, and what better place to start than the whisky that got me into this hobby? Well, I wrote that about a year ago, when we first started reviewing whiskies elsewhere… but here we are, at another fresh start - the first blog post! Today, we’re looking at Lagavulin 16, the whisky that got us started in this hobby. Quickly, though, just a bit about us!
We’re a husband & wife review duo in the Midwestern United States, and we love to taste whisky - single malt, bourbon, rye, blends, anything we can get our hands on! These reviews will be a compilation of tastings notes from both of us, and the scores will be the average of what each of us awarded. We try to review each whisky a few times before rendering a verdict, so all of the notes and scores below will be compilations collected over the course of months or, occasionally, years.
As mentioned before, this is the whisky that pulled us into the hobby. On a chilly winter night, while celebrating holidays with some family, a relative poured us a glass of a mystery drink, something new for us to try. It could even have been a prank - what sort of kids in their 20s like smoky hard liquor?
My wife and I both drank mostly wine and beer at the time, with the occasional cocktail mixed in; we had both tried whisky, and while we didn't mind the taste, it had never stood out to us. This one was different: smoky, rich, fruity, coastal, even sweet. We were intrigued, and a few days later, we found a bottle for ourselves; a few drams in, we were hooked. A little stereotypical, we know.
And so it happened: like the story of many others, Lagavulin 16 was the hook that reeled us into a new world of flavor (and expense). From the south coast of Islay, this world-renowned dram has captured the minds of many, often the first step in a long journey of learning and camaraderie built around this great hobby.
Lagavulin 16 Year
Scotland/Islay - Single Malt
Price Paid: USD 90 (c. 2021)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 93 (2023)
Age Statement: 16 Years
Strength: 43%
Cask Makeup: Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Sherry Casks
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 9 months; bottles at 50%, 25%, and 100% (newly opened) fill level at times of review. Tasted neat in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Quite a bit going on in this nose – it’s rich, with a mixture of earthy peat smoke, savory barbecue, and plentiful fruits, some dried and some still a bit juicy. More sweet than dry, with prune and fig taking a dominant role, sometimes aided by blackberry and even a touch of orange citrus. A little bit of salt, and with that medium level of peat, this feels like a driftwood bonfire on the beach. Near the center of the glass, a touch of musty cellar, and later, red wine and dark chocolate, with mild oak influence.
Palate: The complexion here mimics that of the nose: rich, dark, moderately smoky, and decent complexity. The sweetness is carried over in the form of dark red and purple fruits, some plum and maybe just a hint of dark cherry. Fig and raisin grow stronger after starting in the background, and then the chocolate and driftwood oak show up. The mouthfeel is medium, maybe bordering on thin, but is likely saved a little bit by some longer cask influence; not too oaky overall, though, and as it opens up in the glass, more of those oily barbecue sauce and campfire peat notes, joined by just a hint of earthy cellar. Possibly a hint of perfume as well.
Finish: This finish is medium-long, somewhat soft overall, with just mild warmth coming through, just a bit cozy. A few dry but richly-flavored wood notes cause a prickle around the palate, and the peat is present all the time. Ends with some sweetness from vanilla and creamy chocolate, along with just a pinch of oily barbecue.
Final Note: This whisky will always hold a bit of a special place in our hearts after we first tasted it; we've tried to remain as objective as possible in our rating. A fantastic whisky with mediocre presentation, we think this would be sublime at a higher strength and a bit more natural.
Our ratings will be an average of the individual tastings we've done; we use a 0-10 scale, and allow half-point ratings in the case that we are having trouble deciding between two different scores.
Our Average Rating: 8.5 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 7.47
