Lagavulin 8: smoke off the shoreline
A mate tips a finger of Lagavulin 8 into your glass at his kitchen bench, says nothing, and waits. You've had the 16. You've not had this one. It's pale in the glass, so you brace for something thin, and then it isn't thin at all.
Here's the thing worth knowing before you buy your next bottle. If Lagavulin 8 is your pour, an Ardbeg Wee Beastie gives you about 92% of what your own bottle does, for 81% of its price. Same corner of Islay, most of the same pleasure, a chunk less at the till.
Lagavulin 8 is light in colour but not light in character. The nose heads straight for the shore, all mineral and sea salt, with a sweetness underneath that keeps it fresh and lively rather than heavy. The palate brings menthol, a little bay laurel, more brine, a hint of malt, and a floral lift of Parma violet. It drinks breezy, like peat smoke carried off a kiln into salt air.
1/Pour a Port Charlotte 10: heavy peat that leans meaty, butterscotch underneath, iodine kept in check. $146 this week. The Lagavulin 8 gives a Port Charlotte 10 drinker about 97% of what that bottle does, for 68% of the price.
2/The Lagavulin 8, $99 for members at Dan Murphy's. Eight years old, 48%. The nose heads for the shore: mineral, salt, a sweetness keeping it fresh. Then menthol, bay laurel, more brine, some malt, Parma violet. It finishes breezy, peat smoke off a kiln into salt air.
3/What a Port Charlotte 10 drinker gives up with the Lagavulin 8 is mostly two years of age. Keep the Port Charlotte 10 for the nights its fans know it for; pour the Lagavulin 8 on every other one. Both get a yes: one for the loyal, one for the rest of the week.
The bottlesThe Lagavulin guy
Also from the Lagavulin guy
Ardbeg Wee Beastie: tasting
Ardbeg Wee Beastie: wood smoke and sea breeze, black pepper, then milk chocolate raisins and vanilla. Peaty, punchy, oily, with a long smoky finish. $92 this week; it usually sells around $106. A young Islay with teeth. Love peat? This one's for you. More in this week's piece.
Ardbeg Wee Beastie: neighbours' price
I love handing a Laphroaig 10 drinker an Ardbeg Wee Beastie. They'd pay about $68 for it, roughly 62% of what their own bottle costs them, docking it a little for the extra strength. A yes either way, really. More on the Beastie in this week's piece.
Ardbeg Wee Beastie: per drink
A dram of Ardbeg Wee Beastie after the plates are cleared, and the sums are the small ones: about 26 drinks to the bottle, which comes to $3.51 a pour at home. A pint at the pub runs closer to $6.28 for the same measure. The tasting is in this week's piece.
Ardbeg Wee Beastie: price guide
Ardbeg Wee Beastie is $92 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $106, so you're catching it below the usual. If you like your Islay loud, peat, smoke and sea air, this one's for you. At about $3.51 a pour it's easy to keep on the bench. More in this week's piece.
Port Charlotte 10: price per drink
Two Islays, side by side. Port Charlotte 10 is $146 this week, Caol Ila 12 is $138, so the Port Charlotte costs $8 more a bottle. Pour them and at 50% against 43% it's the cheaper drink: $5.29 a standard drink against $5.81. It runs darker than you'd expect, smoky and a touch medicinal, leaving you reaching for another. Per standard drink this week: — Ardbeg Wee Beastie: $3.51 — Lagavulin 8: $4.26 — Lagavulin 11 Sweet Peat: $4.84 — Port Charlotte 10: $5.29 — Caol Ila 12: $5.81 A pint at the pub is about $6.28 a standard drink. Every pour here sits under it.
Bunnahabhain 12: tasting
Bunnahabhain 12, $99 for members at Dan Murphy's. The nose is all sea salt and tangerines. The palate turns oily and warm: vanilla, sultanas, hazelnuts, a wisp of woodsmoke. Salt and drying smoke on the finish. More on it in this week's piece.
Bunnahabhain 12: neighbours' price
Bunnahabhain 12 and its nearest neighbour, Tamdhu 12, both lean on sherry casks. Hand a Tamdhu 12 drinker a Bunnahabhain 12 and they'd put it at 72% of what their own bottle costs. Plenty to like either way. More on the Bunnahabhain 12 in this week's piece.
Bunnahabhain 12: per drink
I poured the Bunnahabhain 12 and there it was: sea salt, a little tangerine, smoke drifting off at the end. At $99 that's $3.87 a standard drink, about 26 to the bottle. A pint runs about $6.28 a standard drink; a quieter pour at home. More in this week's piece.
Lagavulin 8: stand-in 1
If Lagavulin 8 is your dram, Ardbeg Wee Beastie, $92, gives a Lagavulin 8 drinker about 92% of what the Lagavulin 8 does for 81% of the price, all wood smoke, sea breeze and black pepper, with more on the Lagavulin 8 in this week's piece.
Lagavulin 8: neighbours' price
Hand a Caol Ila 12 drinker a Lagavulin 8 and they'd pay 59% of what their own bottle costs, marking it down for being the younger pour. Still an easy yes for anyone who loves salt, shore and peat smoke. Where would it sit for you? More in this week's piece on Lagavulin 8.
Lagavulin 8: per drink
At $4.26 a standard drink, a pour of Lagavulin 8 at home sits under the $6.28 a pint costs at the pub. The $113 bottle holds about 27 standard drinks, 161st of 310 at Dan Murphy's by price per drink. Where does that leave you? More in this week's piece on Lagavulin 8.
Lagavulin 8: stand-in 2
Like Lagavulin 8? Laphroaig 10 gives a Lagavulin 8 drinker about 80% of the same pour, for 96% of the price — and it's $109. Brine, iodine, charcoal, a sweet oak finish. The rest sits in this week's piece on Lagavulin 8.
Flavour spotlight: peat smoke and sea air, under $100
Peat smoke and sea air, all under $100. The Scotch single malts at Dan Murphy's with the most of it, from their own reviews: Caol Ila 12, $99: fish and bacon off a beach barbecue, lightly oily and meaty. Smokehead Islay, $76: young and fiery, toffee apple, charcoal ash and peppered seaweed. Lagavulin 8, $99: straight to the shore, mineral and salt, then a breezy menthol. Glen Moray Peated, $72: sweet smoke and vanilla, lemon icing, a soft ashy finish. Talisker 10, $92: a sweet pear under the smoke, finishing on cracked black pepper. Five routes to the same coast. Pick your weather.
Lagavulin 16: price per drink
Friday night, two Islay bottles on the bench look almost twins. Caol Ila 12 is $99 this week, Bowmore 12 is $95. So Caol Ila costs $4 more a bottle. But at 43% against 40% it's the cheaper drink: $4.17 a standard drink against $4.30. Per standard drink: Bowmore 12 $4.30, Caol Ila 12 $4.17, Bunnahabhain 12 $5.01, Lagavulin 16 $6.74, Lagavulin 11 Sweet Peat $6.95. A pint at the pub is about $13, near two standard drinks, so $6.28 each. Bowmore, Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain come in under; the two Lagavulins sit over. Pick by taste. The price per pour won't trip you up.
Lagavulin 8: per standard drink
Lagavulin 8 is $99 for members this week, 48% in a 700 mL bottle: about 26 standard drinks, so $3.73 a standard drink. Where it lands: - 29th of 120 single malts at Dan Murphy's - 4th of 16 from Islay - 137th of 318 overall A pint at the pub is $6.28 a standard drink.
Ledaig 10: tasting
Pour Ledaig 10 of an evening and the peat lands brisk and bracing, its raw edge softened by honeyed vanilla, earthy smoke, ripe barley and a twist of black liquorice. $99 for members at Dan Murphy's, where it usually sells around $104. More in this week's piece.
Ledaig 10: stand-in 1
If Ledaig 10 is your smoke, Talisker 10 sits right alongside it: a Ledaig 10 drinker gets about 99% of what they came for, at 93% of the price. That's $92 for members, sweet pear and cracked black pepper under the smoke. More on Ledaig 10 in this week's piece.
Ledaig 10: neighbours' price
Ask the drinkers of the bottles nearest Ledaig 10 what it's worth to them. Their answers run $86 to $133, each from what they pay for their own. At $99 for members it sits inside that range, an easy yes for the peat drinker. More on Ledaig 10 in this week's piece.
Ledaig 10: per drink
They're all smoky, each in its own way. Ledaig 10 comes to $3.87 a standard drink — a pour at home, around 26 to the bottle. A pint at the pub runs about $6.28 a standard drink. More on Ledaig 10 in this week's piece.
Ledaig 10: price guide
Earthy peat smoke, honeyed vanilla and a stick of black liquorice, a brisk punch with soothing sweetness beneath. That's Ledaig 10, $99 for members at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $104, so take this as a gentle guide. More in this week's piece.
Lagavulin 8: tasting
Pale in the glass, but no wimp. The nose heads for the shore: mineral, salt, a sweetness that keeps it fresh. Then menthol, a hint of malt, Parma violet, like peat smoke blown off a kiln into salt air. Lagavulin 8, $99 for members. Pour one this week; more in the piece.
Lagavulin 8: neighbours' price
I asked the drinkers of Lagavulin 8's nearest neighbours what they'd pay for it, each starting from their own bottle: $100 to $142. At $99 for members, it lands just inside that range. I've set it all out in this week's piece on Lagavulin 8 — where would you put it?
Lagavulin 8: per drink
Lagavulin 8 runs $99, about 27 standard drinks, so $3.73 a pour at home. A pint at the pub is around $6.28 a standard drink. Shore on the nose, menthol and bay laurel on the palate, breezy peat through. One for the drinker who likes smoke fresh. More in this week's piece.
Ledaig 10: tasting
Ledaig 10, Tobermory's peated one, $99 for members at Dan Murphy's. Earthy peat smoke on the nose, then ripe barley, honeyed vanilla and bourbon char, a black liquorice stick, a brush of olive brine before the sweetness soothes. Pour one and see, more in this week's piece.
Ledaig 10: neighbours' price
Hand a Port Charlotte 10 drinker a Ledaig 10 and they'd pay 85% of what their own bottle runs, knocking a little off for Tobermory rather than Islay. Same peat, same brine. Would you pour it? More in this week's piece on Ledaig 10.
Ledaig 10: per drink
Ledaig 10 works out to $3.87 a standard drink, the cost of a pour at home, where a pint at the pub sits closer to $6.28 for each of its roughly two. Something to turn over on a quiet night, isn't it? More on Ledaig 10 in this week's piece.
Ledaig 10: price guide
Ledaig 10 is $99 for members at Dan Murphy's this week, where it usually sells around $109. Earthy peat smoke, ripe barley and honeyed vanilla on the nose, bracing at the edges with a soothing sweetness underneath. Tempted? The full read on Ledaig 10 is in this week's piece.
Tastes like Ardbeg Wee Beastie
If Ardbeg Wee Beastie is your bottle, its closest flavour twin at Dan Murphy's is Lagavulin 8. By the words in the reviews and by what drinkers reach for, it's the nearest match. Lagavulin 8 gives about 95% of what the Wee Beastie does, for 93% of the price.
Climbing the Lagavulin range
Two rungs on the Lagavulin ladder this week: the 8 at $99 and the 16 at $160. Both are born on the same Islay shore, so the real question isn't whether a Lagavulin 8 drinker would enjoy the one above — it's what another eight years in the cask actually hands over, and whether anyone settled on the 16 would miss much by stepping down. Let's climb, then climb back.
When the profile model pairs a $53 blend with a $145 malt
Two Scotches at their own floor this week, and the shelf's oddest near-miss. Johnnie Walker Black is $53, Lagavulin 16 is $145 — both plain shelf tickets, neither a members-only deal. Put them together and the pair is the cheapest it has been in the six weeks I have tracked it.
The numbers behind these bottles
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lagavulin 11 Year Old Sweet Peat Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky | Islay | $164.99 | observed | $164.99 | $142.09 | 13.9% | #11 of 16 | $4.84 | #11 of 16 | 2 |
| Lagavulin 16 reference | Islay | $149.90 | observed | $159.95 | $130.52 | 18.4% | #14 of 16 | $6.31 | #16 of 16 | 7 |
| Lagavulin 8 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky | Islay | $112.99 | observed | $99.00 | $91.35 | 7.7% | #1 of 16 | $4.26 | #8 of 16 | 32 |