Updated on 25 September 2026

Same coast, two opposite characters. Lagavulin and Laphroaig sit a couple of kilometres apart on Islay’s south coast, take their peated malt from the same Port Ellen Maltings, and both flagship bottles are chill-filtered. Then they part ways on everything else: Lagavulin 16 is bottled at 43% after sixteen years in cask, smoky and coastal with a dark sweetness of honey and dried fruit; Laphroaig 10 is bottled at 40% at ten years, medicinal and iodine-led, from ex-bourbon casks. In the UK Lagavulin sells for about £80, Laphroaig for £39-42.

Specs side by side

What they share

Both distilleries are on the Kildalton coast, the stretch south-east of Port Ellen. Lagavulin uses malt from the Port Ellen Maltings, Diageo’s plant in Port Ellen, peated to around 35 ppm, and distils slowly: about five hours for the first run. Laphroaig is one of the few Scottish distilleries that still keeps its own floor maltings, where the barley is turned by hand and dried over the distillery’s own peat. The floor maltings cover about 20% of Laphroaig’s needs; the rest comes from Port Ellen, peated to the same level, around 40 ppm.

The two flagship bottles also share what enthusiasts like least: both are chill-filtered and bottled below 46%, and the Lagavulin 16 has added colouring. They are the two best-known core range bottles on the south coast, available everywhere, with prices that swing a lot from one shop to the next. From here on they differ on three things: age, casks and the character of the smoke.

Lagavulin 16 at 43%

Lagavulin 16 has been in the range since 1988, the year of the Classic Malts Selection, and has been the benchmark for elegant peat ever since. It matures at least sixteen years in ex-bourbon casks with a share of ex-sherry (Diageo has never given the split). In the UK it sells for about £80.

Nose: it opens as pure Lagavulin, compact peat smoke, fine ash, and that salty signature that recalls seaweed, iodine and wet rock. After a few seconds sweeter notes appear, with malt and vanilla, plus a hint of dark honey and caramel. With some air, sweet tobacco, leather, wood, spice and dried fruit show up.

Palate: the entry is warm and rounded, peat is there immediately but it does not bite. More enveloping than aggressive, it develops by alternating between sweet and salty. Malt, toffee and vanilla return, then a drier, spicier, almost peppery phase arrives and dries the mouth. The coastal thread remains present throughout.

Finish: long, smoky, with persistence that comes back to ash and spice. A gentle sweetness of vanilla and caramel remains alongside more bitter, drier notes of wood and cocoa. It does not chase special effects: it aims for coherence and length.

Score: 87/100.

Laphroaig 10 at 40%

Laphroaig 10 is Laphroaig’s flagship: medicinal, coastal peat, the same every time. It matures ten years in American ex-bourbon casks and is bottled at 40% for Europe. It is the easier of the two to find, at £39-42.

Nose: immediate peat with a clearly medicinal register. Iodine, seaweed, brine, then vanilla and pale oak. After ten minutes it tends to open up: a more defined lemon note appears and a sweetness like toffee or pale honey. The bandage note remains, but it becomes less sharp and more integrated into the smoke.

Palate: dry, smoky entry with a firm saline backbone. The medicinal element is present but not overwhelming: vanilla, light caramel, a touch of liquorice and a fine peppery lift. It does not have the oily density of higher-proof releases, but it holds its balance between smoke and sweetness.

Finish: medium, more dry than sweet. Ash, brine and a persistent medicinal tail, with a liquorice echo and light woody bitterness. It is not a long or demanding finish, but it is consistent and clean.

Score: 84/100.

What actually changes

The first variable is age. Six more years in cask take the rough edges off the spirit and push the smoke into the background: the peat is there, but it sits underneath and holds the rest together. At ten years the Laphroaig still shows the spirit bare, and it carries the most medicinal phenols on the island: bandage, antiseptic, iodine. It is not about the amount of peat (the ppm are similar) but the character of the smoke at each distillery.

The second is the cask. The Lagavulin’s share of ex-sherry brings the dark honey, the tobacco, the dried fruit, the cocoa on the finish. The Laphroaig stays on bourbon: vanilla, lemon, pale honey, everything more direct and drier. In the glass this becomes two different finishes: the 16 closes long, bittersweet and spicy; the 10 closes medium, dry and saline.

The third is strength, which matters less than you might think. Three percentage points separate 43 from 40, and neither has the oily body of a cask strength. The Lagavulin feels denser mostly because of age and cask, not alcohol. Finally, price: the 16 costs on average twice as much as the 10. Part of that gap is real warehouse time, sixteen years against ten; part of it is the name, which matters when the Lagavulin climbs towards £90.

Which one to pick

Lagavulin 16 is the pick for anyone who wants a mature, composed peated whisky, an after-dinner dram with the smoke folded into sweetness and spice: a safe pour for guests who already drink peated whisky, and one that gains from ten minutes in the glass. Laphroaig 10 is the pick for anyone who wants Islay’s medicinal side in its clearest and cheapest form, a bottle to keep going back to without overthinking it, and the classic to order at a bar when there is no other serious peated whisky on the shelf.

They are two different styles. If the pharmacy note puts you off, the Laphroaig will not grow on you, and the Lagavulin is the one to buy. If the Lagavulin feels too rounded and you want more salt and more ash, take the Laphroaig at half the price: it remains one of the best peated whiskies under €50.

On price alone it is no contest: one Lagavulin 16 buys two Laphroaig 10s. The 16 is worth the difference if you want the elegance of a mature whisky; the 10 wins on value and on personality.