Lagavulin

While Lagavulin single malts were bottled as early as the beginning of the 20th century, the modern brand appeared around the 1940s. As was often the case with the Distillers Company, the license for the distillery was assigned to its former owner, which in this instance for White Horse Distillers. The blender released a variety of non-age statement and 10-year-old releases until settling on a 12-year-old as the proprietary release in the early 1970s.

The 12-year-old remained sole expression for many years, joined briefly by a 15-year-old sold in ceramic decanters in the mid-1980s. When the distillery was taken over by United Distillers, the new company invested heavily in its single malt brands, relaunching Lagavulin as the Islay representative of its Classic Malts of Scotland collection in 1988. This saw the introduction of the famous 16-year-old, which remains the flagship release to this day. Although no longer the license-holder, the White Horse Distillers name was retained on the label until 2000 when the company lost its Royal Warrant.

The Lagavulin 16-year-old is joined today by an 8-year-old in the brand's core range. Diageo also produce an annual sherry-finished release as part of the Distillers Edition collection, and since 2007 have bottled a cask strength 12-year-old for its Special Releases. The distillery also turns out limited edition bottlings every year for the Islay Jazz Festival and Fèis Ìle.

Lagavulin Distillery
Port Ellen
Isle of Islay
PA42 7DZ
Scotland