The aromas are tightly bound, but a little water releases them nicely. A powerful dram, with tarry, leafy, coal ash, caramel apple, and driftwood notes; even a little soapy (not necessarily a negative). More subtle floral notes (heather, violet), Earl Grey tea, and smoked fish. Long, damp peat smoke and charcoal finish.

Reviewed by: John Hansell (Spring 2010)

Lagavulin at an odd age, representing House Lannister and showcasing its lion sigil. The nose is floral, with rose hips, toffee, and fragrant peat notes. Full on the palate, with toffee apples, cinnamon, earthy peat, and smoked haddock in salted butter. The smoked fish combines with fennel in the lengthy finish.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Spring 2019)

Lagavulin 12 year old is represented in Diageo’s annual Special Releases lineup for the fifteenth consecutive year. This was matured in refill American oak barrels. Earthy, peppery peat are present on the nose, along with hazelnuts, seaweed, and lemon juice. It offers citrus fruit, bonfire smoke, pepper, chili, and antiseptic on the palate. The medium-length finish features smoked chilies.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Winter 2018)

It’s been quite a year for Lagavulin; a 25 year old is due (but no sample at the time of writing). This was a 6,000-strong bottling, aged in refill hoggies and ‘bodega’ butts. Initially restrained and mildly oxidized, it shows angelica, a spritz of lemon juice on potted shrimp, then fennel pollen and water mint. The smoke is pulled back. The palate has orchard fruits, creosote, and moss. Lagavulin’s top notes accentuated, but with the depth of age. £125

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Fall 2016)

Saline, smoke, seaweed, and iodine mingle with biscuity shortbread, lemon, bubble gum, bright berry fruit, and wafting floral aromas. The palate glides silkily from lemon, orange, and soapy-floral flavors to almonds, hazelnuts, drying oak, and hints of ginger, with peat smoke and salt weaving throughout. Sweet, then bitter on the finish, showcasing cigar ash, leather, and polished oak. Actor Nick Offerman, who collaborated with the distillery on this single malt, could hardly be described as reticent, but his whisky has a sweet shyness that works well in the glass

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Spring 2020)

A thick, sweet, weighty Lagavulin -- the kind you eat with a fork. Interwoven caramel and molasses laced with thumping waxed fruit, dates, burnt walnuts, and peat kiln embers that linger long on the palate. A mouthful!

Reviewed by: John Hansell (Summer 2008)

Straw gold color. Peat smoke, damp earth, seaweed, balanced by a maple syrup sweetness on the nose and palate. Full-bodied and firm in body. Flavors are pleasantly mature and nicely integrated.

Reviewed by: John Hansell (Fall 2003)

Light in color it may be, but this is no wimp. The nose goes straight to the shore with mineral and salt, but it’s also sweet, which allows it to be fresh, lively, yet balanced. The palate delivers some menthol, bay laurel, more brininess, a hint of malt, and Parma violet. Everything remains very breezy, with peat smoke being blown from a kiln into salt-laden air. I prefer it to the 12 year old and the price is fantastic.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Summer 2016)

It’s a brave person who tries to persuade a malt like Lagavulin to go into a different direction. Indeed, even PX casks, from the sweetest fortified wine of all, can’t fully obscure the distillery’s character, just give it a raisined coating. The creosote turns to tar and licorice, while there’s Syrah-like sootiness, and damson. This release is slightly less sweet than in the past and is the better for it, though I still prefer my Lagavulin relatively ‘naked.’

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Summer 2012)

An elder Lagavulin. Thirty years of oak aging has mellowed this whisky. Fragrant and floral, with suggestions of perfumed soap. Spicy too, with cinnamon and anise. Classic leafy, smoky notes, along with some tarry rope, emerge on the palate and maintain a steady keel as they work their way through an ocean of vanilla malt. Lingering finish of burning embers. Certainly an enjoyable Lagavulin, but I still like the standard 16 year old better. It’s hard to improve on a classic.

Reviewed by: John Hansell (Spring 2007)

Though as pale as ever, this Lagavulin is hardly in need of a Charles Atlas course. The nose is ozonic, like rock pools at low tide with kelp splattered around. Sweetness comes in the form of cloudy apple juice and a smokehouse kipperiness. The palate is explosive, with masses of retronasal action showing violet root, thyme, juniper, tarragon/fennel, and a finish akin to smoked cheese. An improvement on the 2012 release.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)

This is the fourteenth 12 year old Lagavulin bottling in the series and was aged in refill American oak hogsheads. Vanilla and wood smoke on the early nose, then black pepper, lemon, marine aromas, and scented notes, with a hint of peaty yeast. Big, sweet, and direct on the smooth palate, with milk chocolate and black pepper, while the smoke keeps building. The finish is long and smoky, with persistent pepper. Diageo Special Releases 2016 bottling.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Winter 2016)

As pale as you'd expect, this year’s Special Release ‘limited’ bottling has a sweet, bready softness to it making it less angular than previous expressions. The smoke comes across very gently, allowing the sweet grassiness of the spirit the upper hand until water is added. The palate stirs in some emulsion paint, a pleasing lift of sulfur and anise, and gradually deepens. With water there are more smoke and marine notes.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Winter 2015)

A very laid-back start with the sweetness of the sherry cask bringing a fat, figgy, dried fruit aroma which initially suppresses the peat, only allowing a little pipe smoke and smoked meat to emerge. With water, there’s balsam, tar, dried seaweed, and fabric Band-Aid. This is repeated on the tongue, with dark fruits suddenly changing to spent kiln and bonfire ashes, but there needs to be more cohesion between the elements. £80

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Summer 2014)

Hard not to compare this to the 12 year old, as they are of similar strength and character. This is more about the peat bank rather than the shore, more eucalyptus than kelp. This pungent, earthy note is retained with water, alongside some brine. The palate is like carrageen moss pudding, with a touch of nutmeg at the end. Plenty there, but it all moves very quickly when I want it to linger. That said, a solid performer. £47/500 ml

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)

This is a venerable Lagavulin which immediately shows its age with a nose that mixes the savory (hoisin sauce) with the mature notes of dunnage warehouse, sandalwood, and a minty lift. In time, there’s bog myrtle, old attics, rain-moistened wool, and a smokiness akin to a dead briar pipe. Slightly dull to start, it perks up in the mid-palate with lanolin and black olive brine, and a Darjeeling-like grippiness. Interesting for sure, but past its best. (1,868 bottles).

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)

This is usually a bracing expression of Lagavulin and this year’s release doesn’t disappoint—smoldering peat, ozone freshness, but with greater sweetness than in 2011, though water shows how it is still just a little gawky. The palate is, yes, smoky, but there’s also light cereal, praline, violets, and seashore aromas aplenty. Fills the mouth with intensity. Okay, it’s edgy, but that’s what you expect.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Winter 2012)

Brought back as an annual limited edition to satisfy the cravings of those who like their peat full-on and never understood why Lagavulin moved to 16 years of age, this is the Kildalton coast single malt at its most boisterous. Aromatically, it blazes a seaweed-strewn, zigzag pathway between sea, shore, and land: bog myrtle and samphire, beach bonfire, sea spray, and melon before, with much-needed water, there’s slow-burning Latakia pipe tobacco and Lapsang Souchong tea.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2012)