Review by: ZoidbergOnTheRocks
Well, everyone has to review Lagavulin 16 at some point, so I’ll at least try to make it more interesting by doing a side-by-side to the old stuff.
This was not my first big smoky scotch, but for a long time it was my absolute favorite. With time, as I’ve tasted more and more scotch, I’ve come to understand that while it’s good it is not in fact remotely my favorite. It’s changed a lot over the years, too, and one could be forgiven for remembering a higher quality than you can find today if you started with it quite some time ago.
Tasted on 8/25/2020, both neat in a Glencairn; no water needed here.
This is a standard bottle of Lagavulin 16 for the US market, bottled in 2016. Chill filtered and highly colored. If you want to know what color E150a is, well, just look at a glass of Lagavulin 16. That golden glow ain’t Marsellus Wallace’s soul.
Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 43.0%
Age: 16 years old. Bottled in 2016.
Cask type: Ex-Bourbon & Sherry Casks
Nose: woody smoke, peat, caramel, oak, fruity apple & pear, brine, vanilla, slight medicinal, a bit sooty.
Taste: peat, smoke, seaweed, light pepper, saltiness, some tar, some of that sweet fruit. Texture is thin and watery.
Finish: wood smoke, soot, caramel sweetness, some salty seaweed, very light pepper, good length. After a while a touch of bitterness, like orange rind.
This is a good dram for sure, a bit simple and overly woody, but who doesn’t love that Lagavulin smoke and fruity sweetness? It is badly let down by the filtering and ABV though, and honestly that’s what keeps this from being anything more than “good, just fine.” I’ll review some truly outstanding Lagavulin in the near future, but for now let me assure you that this is a fair score for the current stock 16.
Final Score: 78.
Lagavulin 16 Year White Horse, bottled in the late 80’s, aka “sheep shit Laga”
This is a 70cl bottle of Lagavulin 16 for the UK market from back in the day, around the time of its first release. I don’t have a firm date on the bottle, though the box, gold ink “1816 Isla” on the bottle, and the queen’s royal warrant and “White Horse Distillers Glasgow” on the label all point to the late 80’s or early 90’s at the latest. Sadly, still bottled at only 43%, chill filtered, and color added.
So here’s a story: I visited Lagavulin in November 2012, got a tour and had an absolutely excellent tasting in the warehouse with Iain. (A stormy day on Islay and 30yr Laga straight from the cask.) During part of the tour you walk outside briefly past a stream running right past the distillery. The water is brown and murky. I asked if that’s the water they use in the distillery. Our tour guide, a lovely woman whose name escapes me, said “well, not quite.” You see, across the road from the distillery is a field, with sheep. And the stream runs across it. She said that in the early 80’s UK Health and Safety came by and said they couldn’t use the water that ran through the field because it wasn’t sanitary. They made them install a pipe to pick up the water from above the field, and use that from then on.
My takeaway from that was that pre-early 80’s Lagavulin distillate has sheep shit in it, and that’s one of those little extra somethings you miss in modern bottlings 😉
Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 43.0%
Age: 16 years old
Nose: rich earthy smoke, sweet fruits (green apple, kiwi, apricot), candied fruit, seaweed, subtle medicinal quality, rope, iodine, light machine oil, a hint of tar. Very well balanced, the smoke doesn’t dominate. Is there a hint of eucalyptus in there?
Taste: earthy peat, rope, oil, sweet fruit, a bit drying, seaweed, iodine and other medicinal flavors, white pepper. Mouthfeel is slightly thicker, bordering on medium.
Finish: deep earthy smoke, white pepper, some salty sea over sweet fruit, a bit drying, nice length with the smoke and pepper remaining.
This is very good and I dig on the sweet fruit balanced with an earthier peat. No woodiness here at all. Somewhat drying, but no bitterness anywhere. Like the current bottling I’m gonna say this is let down by the ABV and filtering.
I’m also sad to say that I can’t honestly identify any notes of sheep shit in this bottle, but not ever having tasted it raw, well, what do I know. Maybe one day.
Final Score: 85.
Comparison
Order: White Horse > Current
There’s an obvious difference between these on the nose and palate. The 2016 is much more woody vs. a deeper, earthy quality to the WH. The WH is better balanced throughout as well, and the sweet fruit notes come through much cleaner. Both are good, and I honestly think that each will appeal to different people at different times. Personally I give higher marks to the WH for better balance and more complexity than the rather straightforward recent bottling.
BTW, for fun I have tucked away a Laga 16 WH bottle with 5/1991 written on the box, and a Laga 16 from 2014. I plan to hold them until 2035 or so and then buy a new bottle and race all three. Let’s see if both r/scotch and I are still around then.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 