The Best Lagavulin Whiskies

Lagavulin 9 Year House Lannister is one of eight single malts Scotch whiskies made to commemorate the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones. Set to hit shelves in the fall of 2018, this Islay single malt was aged 9 years and bears the sigil for House Lannister — a golden lion.

Lagavulin 8 was released in conjunction with the distillery's 200th anniversary in 2016. It's meant as a throwback to the style of whisky Lagavulin may have been producing around the 1880s. That's when author, Alfred Barnard, visited all the distilleries in Great Britain, over 150 of them, and came away with the opinion that Lagavulin was just one of a few putting out single malt worthy of drinking on its own, as opposed to being solely destined for a blend. As of November 2017, this is whisky is now a core bottling for the distillery instead of a limited edition with new labels to follow.

Though not officially established until 1816, there are records of illicit distillation that date as far back as 1742. Located on the southeast coast of Islay, Lagavulin produces single malt whiskies made with peated malted barley sourced from neighboring Port Ellen Maltings. Aged in oak barrels for a minimum of 16 years, this is the flagship bottling from the distillery.

Following the release of their 8-year expression and continuing the celebration for the distillery's 200th anniversary is the release of Lagavulin 25 Year, which is a tribute to all the distillery's craftsmen over the years. A limited 8,000 bottles of this expression are available beginning in June 2016, with only 1,200 allocated for the US. It has matured exclusively in ex-sherry casks and bottled at its natural cask strength.