What should a bottle of Lagavulin 16 cost? It has been the distillery's main bottling for more than 30 years, an Islay malt built on peat and sea air. So the question is a fair one to put plainly: what are you paying for, and how does $160 sit next to the bottles around it?
| slot | 08-13 | 08-20 | 08-27 | 09-03 | 09-10 | 09-17 | 09-24 | 10-01 | 10-08 | 10-15 | 10-22 | 10-29 | 11-05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list / member | 159.95 m 150.00 observed | 159.95 m 150.00 observed | 159.95 m 150.00 observed | 144.95 observed | 159.95 observed | 188.95 observed | 149.95 observed | 188.95 observed | 159.95 observed | 159.95 observed | 159.95 observed | 159.95 observed | 149.90 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 161.72 | 159.95 | 13.13 | 144.95 | 188.95 | 44.00 | 8.1% | 3.64 | 149.90 | 15 |
| member | 159.42 | 159.95 | 14.15 | 144.95 | 188.95 | 44.00 | 8.9% | 3.92 | 149.90 | 15 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 161.72 | 172.29 | 1.41 | 1.73 | 154.6 – 168.9 |
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 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.
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 16: iodine, rich peat and a little caramel up front, then an oily, briny palate that turns medicinal before the embers and hot tar settle into a long finish. It's $160, the kind of pour that hangs about like woodsmoke on your coat. More on it in this week's piece.
It's Friday, the kettle's off and you want something with smoke. Love Lagavulin 16? Caol Ila 12 gives you about 89% of what it does, at 62% of the price, $99 for members. Fish wrapped in bacon off a beach barbecue, a squeeze of lemon. More in this week's piece. Fancy a pour?
Hand a Bunnahabhain 12 drinker a Lagavulin 16 and they'd put 85% of their own bottle's price on it — docked a touch for the extra years. The neighbours' price, in this week's piece: what the nearest drinkers would pay, each from their own pour. Where would you land?
Lagavulin 16 is $160, about 24 standard drinks in the bottle, so $6.74 a pour at home. A pint at the pub works out to $6.28 a drink, so it sits just over that. If you love rich peat and a long, spicy finish, it rewards a slow pour. More in this week's piece.
Love Lagavulin 16? Bowmore 12 gives a Lagavulin 16 drinker about 88% of what it does, for 59% of the price, $95 for members. Tropical fruit and sweet smoke on the nose, honey and fuller smoke on the palate, cocoa and fading woodsmoke to close. More in this week's piece.
If you love Lagavulin 16, I'd happily pour you a Bunnahabhain 12: at $128 it gives a Lagavulin 16 drinker about 84% of what the Lagavulin 16 does, for 80% of its price, all sea salt and tangerines and gentle smoke. More on Lagavulin 16 in this week's piece.
Age is the biggest slice of what sets a whisky's price, and for Bunnahabhain 12 it makes up 46% of the going rate. Price its age, strength, name and style like the rest of the range at Dan Murphy's and you reach $129. This week it's $99 for members, about 23% under.
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.
Who drinks this?
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.
Start with the price, because it sets the frame. This week Bunnahabhain 12 is $99 for members at Dan Murphy's, and it usually sells around that. Across about 26 pours in the bottle that works out at $3.87 a standard drink, so a glass at home sits under a $13 pint at the pub ($6.28 a standard drink). The price guide below puts it against the bottles closest to it.
310 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre at $1.99 a standard drink; the median is $4.16; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 235 of the 310 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
305 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: McAllister 1 litre at $2.00 a standard drink; the median is $4.03; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 228 of the 305 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
Lagavulin 16 is $160 at Dan Murphy's this week. That's the figure to hold while everything else falls into place.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lagavulin 11 Year Old Sweet Peat Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700ml | $164.99 | $145.90 | +19.09 |
| 2 | Bowmore 12 Year Old Scotch Whisky 700mL | $95.00 | $144.23 | -49.23 |
| 3 | Caol Ila 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $99.00 | $143.02 | -44.02 |
| 4 | Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old Scotch Whisky 700mL | $127.99 | $141.78 | -13.79 |
| 5 | Laphroaig 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $97.00 | $133.90 | -36.90 |
| 6 | Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 10 Year Old Scotch Whisky 700mL | $145.99 | $129.52 | +16.47 |
| 7 | Lagavulin 8 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $99.00 | $120.93 | -21.93 |
| 8 | Glencadam 15YO Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $150.00 | $117.38 | +32.62 |
| 9 | The Glenlivet 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $125.00 | $114.69 | +10.31 |
| 10 | The Glenlivet 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $184.99 | $113.83 | +71.16 |