Lagavulin 16

Standing on the rugged southern shore of the Isle of Islay, Lagavulin has produced whisky for more than two centuries. Its 16-year-old expression is regarded around the world as a defining voice of Islay — deeply peated, richly smoked and unmistakably coastal.

Lagavulin was officially established in 1816 by John Johnston, with a neighbouring distillery founded a year later by Archibald Campbell; the two were merged in the mid-nineteenth century. The name derives from the Gaelic Lag a' Mhuilinn, meaning 'the hollow by the mill', a reference to the ancient mills that once operated in the bay. Located on the southern coast of Islay, the distillery has been producing whisky almost continuously for over two hundred years. In 1988 Lagavulin was selected for Diageo's Classic Malts of Scotland range, an initiative that transformed the global appreciation of single malt whisky. Today Lagavulin 16 is one of the most recognised single malt expressions in the world.

The malted barley used at Lagavulin is heavily peated, giving the spirit its characteristic smoke. Fermentation is unusually long — up to seventy-five hours — allowing complex fruit notes to develop alongside the peat. Distillation takes place in small, onion-shaped copper pot stills operated slowly, a practice that encourages a richer, oilier spirit. The whisky is then matured for a minimum of sixteen years in American oak ex-bourbon casks, allowing the peat to soften and integrate with layers of dried fruit, seaweed and toffee.

Lagavulin 16 is widely considered one of the defining expressions of the Islay style. Its sixteen-year age statement was unusually long when it was first introduced and has since influenced many other distilleries. Its inclusion in the Classic Malts campaign helped shape the modern global understanding of what single malt Scotch could be.

There are few whiskies in the world so inseparable from the place that made them as Lagavulin is from the wild southern coast of Islay.

The distillery stands beside the ruins of Dunyvaig Castle, a fortress once held by the Lord of the Isles. In 1885 the whisky writer Alfred Barnard visited Lagavulin during his exhaustive tour of British distilleries; his subsequent account in The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom remains an invaluable historical record of Victorian-era distilling.

Lagavulin 16 has received consistent international acclaim from whisky writers and independent judges alike. It is frequently cited among the most influential single malts ever produced.