Lagavulin Introduces 11 Year Old Sweet Peat Single Malt

Diageo’s Lagavulin distillery has unveiled Lagavulin 11 Year Old Sweet Peat Single Malt Scotch Whisky, marking its first new permanent expression in nine years. Matured for 11 years in first-fill American oak ex-bourbon casks, the new release balances Lagavulin’s signature peat smoke with sweetness derived entirely from oak and malt. The whisky delivers notes of toffee apple, vanilla and gentle spice, while retaining the unmistakable character of the Islay distillery.

According to Diageo Master Blender Dr. Stuart Morrison, Sweet Peat reflects careful cask selection and deliberate pacing. On the palate, it opens with gentle sweetness and salinity before evolving into bonfire smoke and oak spice, with honeyed malt and toffee apple through the mid-palate and a long finish of lingering peat smoke, dark chocolate and soft vanilla.

Crafted using heavily peated malt and local Islay water, the spirit is fermented in wooden washbacks and distilled through Lagavulin’s four squat, pear-shaped copper pot stills, producing a full-bodied and structured new make. The process allows peat to remain central during maturation while sweetness develops in balance.

Positioned as an approachable yet complex expression, Sweet Peat is suited to both longtime Lagavulin followers and new Scotch drinkers. It can be enjoyed neat, on the rocks, or in cocktails such as the Smoky Sweet Old Fashioned and the Sweet Peat Tea. The expression is priced at a suggested retail of $69.99 for a 750 ml bottle.