Head to head · same category, comparable price
Aberlour A'bunadh vs Lagavulin 16 Year Old
They diverge on 4 of our eight axes, most of all peaty, 0 against 8.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Aberlour A'bunadh | Lagavulin 16 Year Old | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Single malt |
| Origin | Speyside, Scotland | Islay, Scotland |
| Age | No age statement | 16 years |
| Strength | Not published | 43% ABV |
| Cask | Oloroso sherry butt | Refill American oak, refill European oak |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £70 | £85 |
| Per 10cl | £10 | £12 |
| Per litre of alcohol | — | £282 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both from Scotland: Aberlour A'bunadh from Speyside, Lagavulin 16 Year Old from Islay.
Lagavulin 16 Year Old states 16 years; Aberlour A'bunadh states none.
Cask as each producer describes it: Aberlour A'bunadh in oloroso sherry butt, Lagavulin 16 Year Old in refill american oak and refill european oak.
Neither states chill filtration.
Lagavulin 16 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Lagavulin 16 Year Old is £15 dearer a bottle than Aberlour A'bunadh.
Aberlour A'bunadh publishes no strength, so we will not cost it per litre of alcohol.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Aberlour A'bunadh | Lagavulin 16 Year Old |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 8 |
| Sweet | 8 | 4 |
| Fruity | 7 | 3 |
| Spicy | 6 | 4 |
| Woody | 6 | 6 |
| Sherried | 9 | 3 |
| Cereal | 5 | 4 |
| Oily | 9 | 8 |
4 of the eight axes clear 3 points; after peaty comes sherried at 9 against 3, sweet at 8 against 4 and fruity at 7 against 3.
Level only on woody, 6 each.
Each bottle in its own right
Aberlour A'bunadh
Enormous sherried fruit at cask strength. Batch to batch it moves, which is the point.
We publish no ABV because there isn't one: A'bunadh is released in sequential batches, each bottled at its own cask strength, and Aberlour states only 'cask strength' with no number. Any single ABV you see quoted for it is batch-specific. A'bunadh means 'the original' in Gaelic.
Full record →Lagavulin 16 Year Old
Sweet peat smoke wrapped in dried fruit and iodine. The softest of the big Islays.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Aberlour A'bunadh for cask strength and sherry bombs, Lagavulin 16 Year Old for after dinner and gift for a peat drinker.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Aberlour A'bunadh and Lagavulin 16 Year Old: aberlour.com, malts.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.