Lagavulin distillery is a malt whisky distillery in the village of

Lagavulin Lagavulin ( gd, Lag a' Mhuilinn, "hollow of the mill") is a small village approximately outside Port Ellen on the Isle of Islay, Scotland. The village is within the parish of Kildalton, and is situated on the A846 road The A846 road is one o ...

on the south of the island of Islay,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It distills spirit that will become Islay single malt Scotch whisky. Lagavulin is owned by Diageo, a multinational beverage alcohol company headquartered in London. It was previously marketed under the ''Classic Malts'' range of single malts, which is now defunct. The standard bottling is a 16-year-old, bottled at 43% ABV. They also bottle a Distiller's edition,

finished Finished may refer to: * ''Finished'' (novel), a 1917 novel by H. Rider Haggard * ''Finished'' (film), a 1923 British silent romance film * "Finished" (short story), a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp See also *Finishing (disa ...

Pedro Ximénez Pedro Ximénez (also known as PX and many other variations) is the name of a white Spanish wine grape variety grown in several Spanish wine regions but most notably in the '' denominación de origen'' (DO) of Montilla-Moriles. Here it is used to ...

Sherry Sherry ( es, jerez ) is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versi ...

casks. Alongside these, they regularly release a 12-year-old

cask strength Cask strength (also known as barrel proof/barrel strength) is a term used by whiskey (often spelled "whisky" outside of Ireland and the United States) and rum producers to describe a whiskey or rum that has not been substantially diluted after its ...

version and various older and rarer expressions. The name ''Lagavulin'' is an anglicisation of ''Lag a' Mhuilinn'', the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

for ''hollow of the mill''.

Distillery

The distillery of Lagavulin officially dates from 1816, when John Johnston and Archibald Campbell Brooks constructed two distilleries on the site. One of them became Lagavulin, taking over the other—which one is not exactly known. Records show illicit distillation in at least ten illegal distilleries on the site as far back as 1742, however. In the 19th century, several legal battles ensued with their neighbour Laphroaig, brought about after the distiller at Lagavulin, Peter Mackie, leased the Laphroaig distillery. It is said that Mackie attempted to copy Laphroaig's style. Since the water and peat at Lagavulin's premises was different from that at Laphroaig's, the result did not match. The Lagavulin distillery is located in the village of the same name. Lagavulin is known for its producer's use of a slow distillation speed and pear shaped pot stills. The two wash stills have a capacity of 11,000 litres and the two spirit stills of 12,500 litres each.

Accolades

International spirits ratings competitions have generally given Lagavulin's 16-year spirit extremely high scores. The

San Francisco World Spirits Competition The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2001 by Anthony Dias Blue as an off-shoot of the San Francisco International Wine Competition. It assesses hundreds of entrants annually (1,407 in 2013 from 63 countries) with tastings inv ...

, for instance, gave the 16-year four consecutive double gold medals between 2005 and 2008 and has awarded it gold medals in the years since. ''

Wine Enthusiast Magazine ''Wine Enthusiast'' magazine is an American wine magazine published by Wine Enthusiast Companies in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1979 by Adam and Sybil Strum, Wine Enthusiast Companies engages in the wine accessories, storage, information, educat ...

'' put the 16-year in its 90–95 point interval in 2004. Spirits ratings aggregator proof66.com, which averages scores from the San Francisco Spirits Competition, ''Wine Enthusiast'', and others, classifies the spirit in its highest ("Tier 1") performance category.

Managers

*Jack Wilson circa 1974 *Neil Gillies, 1975–1980 *Ian Marland, 1980–1983 *Alistair Robertson, 1984–1988 *Grant Carmichael, 1988–1995 *Mike Nicolson, 1995 – October 1998 *Donald Renwick, 1998–2005 *John Thomson, 2005–2006 *Graham Logie, 2006–2008 *Peter Campbell, 2008–2010 *Georgie Crawford, 2010–2018 *Colin Gordon, 2018–2020 *Pierrick Guillaume, 2020-2022 *Jordan Paisley, 2022-

Cultural references

Michael Schur Michael Herbert Schur (born 1975) is an American television producer, writer, director and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series ''The Office'', and co-created ''Parks and Recreation'' with ''Office'' producer Greg Daniels. ...

, co-creator of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' Parks and Recreation '' made Lagavulin the drink of choice of character

Ron Swanson Ronald Ulysses Swanson is a fictional character portrayed by Nick Offerman from the situation comedy television series ''Parks and Recreation'' on NBC, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. In the series, Ron is the director of the Parks ...

( Nick Offerman), featuring it throughout the series. ** The Lagavulin distillery was featured in the two-part opening episode of the show's sixth season, titled "London." ** The Lagavulin distilery was bought by Ron Swanson in the last episode of the show's seventh season, titled "One Last Ride." * In

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White Hous ...

(season 3, episode 15, titled '

Dead Irish Writers The third season of the American political drama television series ''The West Wing'' aired in the United States on NBC from October 3, 2001 to May 22, 2002 and consisted of 21 episodes and 2 special episodes. Production The season premiere was ...

'), Lagavulin was featured as the drink of choice of Lord John Marbury (

Roger Rees Roger Rees (5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015) was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby''. He also re ...

). * Lagavulin 16 was offered to the character Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr) as his preferred drink in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

References

{{Coord, 55, 38, 07.8, N, 6, 07, 34.3, W, display=title Whisky distilleries in Islay 1816 establishments in Scotland Diageo brands