Scotland, Isle of Islay. Distillery operational. Owner: Diageo

An iconic malt in the very famous Six Classic Malts range launched in the late 1980s, Lagavulin became, in just a few years, the most popular peated malt in the world. Very quickly, the distillery's entire production, initially reserved for blends such as the famous White Horse blend, was reassigned exclusively to bottlings of the single malt in order to anticipate future international demand. Known until that point in the form of a 12 Year Old expression (one released in the early 1970s in a transparent bottle with a white label, the other released in the 1980s in a green bottle with a cream label), Lagavulin is now released as a 16 year old and has “played solo” for almost a decade. In 1997, a second Classic Malts edition was released, with a statement of vintage and double maturation. It was a Lagavulin 1979 finished in Pedro Ximenez casks that ended the omnipotence of the Lagavulin 16 Year Old, before another 12 year old version was released in 2002, updated to suit the tastes of the day (small batch, bourbon cask, cask strength). Since then, many vintage versions have helped develop the Lagavulin clan, each more sought-after than the next, including those available only at the distillery's visitor centre. It was the 40 year old version, however, released in the Rare Malts Selection in 2016, that became the most coveted, with only five editions released worldwide!

A Lagavulin 18 year old bottled for Feis Ile in 2016 to mark the distillery’’s bicentenary. The whisky was matured in American Oak casks and European oak sherry butts. Feis Ile is a festival celebrating Celtic music and culture held on Islay every year since 1985 by The Islay Festival Association. The festival’’s first whisky tasting was held in 1990 and ten years later distilleries began actively participating by holding tours and releasing special editions only available on the isle during the festival. It is now a major event and very popular in the whisky world. A limited edition of 6,000 bottles.