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Laphroaig 18yo
Islay Single Malt Whisky
48% abv
£64 $95 (USD)
Replacing the Laphroaig 15yo in April of this year, Laphroaig 18yo has already found avid followers even while attracting the increasingly tired complaint that "whisky is expensive." Probably doesn't help that when this bottle was announced the suggested price was about £10/$20 less than what it currently fetches on shelves around the world. But with only 7500 cases of this stuff produced per year and demand quite high, I imagine the unforseen inflation is simply the market's natural response. A shame it doesn't really work the other way.
See my whisky blogging brothers' reviews at Edinburgh Whisky Blog, TWEBlog, Whisky for Everyone, and WhiskyFun.
Recent Laphroaig releases have been taking the iconic label in slightly new direction and this one St. Patrick's Day feel on the tube, no?
John Hansell has some words on when it will arrive in the USA HERE.
For more distillery info or to see all Laphroaigs had on the mission, click HERE. Big thanks to GS for sharing the drop.
TASTING NOTES:
Sweet, creamy, and spicy. Toffee, vanilla, some melon, dried apricots, and a warming smokiness with an extra little whiff of burnt cardboard. Sooty. Fresh overall impression weighted by smoke and a permeating sweetness.
Slap of peat smoke with some grassy characteristics. Honey, Nutella, and toast cooked above a smoldering campfire. Great oily texture as it fades with all the coal and iodine one might expect.
SUMMARY:
No big surprises here. Sweet and smoky, aged and balanced. Quaffable even at 48% abv, and this should be enjoyed in big sips. A great addition to the standard range that will not disappoint the FOL anoraks and might even recruit a few more fans to the iconic distillery .
Malt Mission #356
Malt Mission #357
Malt Mission #358
Malt Mission #360
Malt Mission HOME
Laphroaig 12yo Oloroso Cask
Islay Single Malt Whisky
53.1% abv
£35
This version of Laphroaig is a World Duty Free(UK) exclusive. Like all Kildalton malts, whiskies on the south coast of Islay (Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin), this release has attracted much whisky-nerd interest sparking forum discussion and debate (HERE and HERE, to cite just two).
We bought a bottle on the way out of Heathrow. TO DRINK with FRIENDS and FAMILY. I emphasize this because some complete shmuck(s) have already posted bottles for sale on eBay and the like (I will not put links here). One has a BUY NOW price of £250 and the other has been bidded on and is currently at £145.
I have mixed feelings about collecting whisky as it is, but to each their own. Who am I to judge? But this kind of profiteering is absolutely disgusting. Go buy and collect stamps and baseball cards and Nazi paraphernalia... please leave the water of life alone. DON'T SUPPORT THIS BEHAVIOUR!!! Drink, be merry, and be kind to others.
The kind folks at Beam Global tell me that this 12 year old "was specially selected 1994 Laphroaig – selected by Master Blender Robert Hicks, from 3 ex-bourbon barrels. It was then filled into a sherry butt for 14 months, the same sherry butt which had held the 1974 fully finished Laphroaig (31yo) we had bottled for Maison du Whisky in 2005." (Thank you HK and LJ for answering my questions)
Tasted with SK amongst candles and beer in Oslo (and again this morning with Kristin under more controlled conditions... in bed). For other Laphroaigs had on the mission, click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Very viscous, and I usually don't mention this, but it has extremely slow legs. Big sweet bouquet. Strawberry gum and vanilla tobacco, licorice and cigarette smoke. Coca cola bottles (gummies). Sweet and quite yummy while simultaneously being carbolic/phenolic, smoky. Soft and welcoming. Dirty, angry, and somehow charming. Italian 'confetti', white candy covered almonds.
"Strong, fairly lightish colour. For me it is a very classic peatish, definitely not a blended one. Interesting actually," said Svein. "In a way the taste is de-coupled from the smell. I think. Suddenly it smells, kind of a sweetish, interesting." Salty and dry, suddenly, but still candy/lozenge sweet. "Smells like good memories. It's very sweet, isn't it? Mmm... that smells lovely." - Kristin
Sweet, melons and Sprite. Cashew nuts and Coca Cola. "It is not as peaty as that Skye malt," said Svein. "Talisker," I say. "Yes, it feels lighter but sure, you can feel the peat. The alcohol flavour somehow subdues to the, sort of, the flavour." I find it very pleasant at cask strength. Great, clean initial fruity impact that expands mid-palate with syrupy and oily flavours and textures. Long sweet fruity finish with some ammonia, freshly cut wood, and the taste of the smell of new cotton t-shirts.
SUMMARY:
Kristin says, "Everything you're expecting from Laphroaig but it its just more subdued." An interesting Laphroaig. It is a more refined, elegant Laphroaig. More Ardbeg than any Laphroaig I have ever had. Kristin enthusiastically agrees, "yes, like drinking in the warehouses at Ardbeg with Stewart, the feeling of positive memories that was brought back with my first smell." Kristin is the peat freak in this family, so her enthusiasm is to be expected with this dram. Espen, her brother, took one whiff ans said, "whew... for advanced users."
It's not worth £250. "Not at all." But worth every penny Laphroaig charges for it at UK Duty Free. Enjoy it, don't pirate it.
Malt Mission #216
Malt Mission #217
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Malt Mission #220
Malt Mission HOME
Laphroaig 25 yo
Islay Single Malt Whisky
40% abv
£140
It's Friday and the first of two Islay-themed weeks here on the mission are done. See you Monday.
A vatting of Laphroaig matured in its usual ex-bourbon casks AND some ex-Oloroso sherry casks, this Laphroaig 25yo is a new release that stirred up a good deal of excitement among whisky fans when rumours of its imminent arrival began early last summer. Unfortunately, I think it's reception suffered a bit from the build-up. Phrases like "weak", "not much happening" have been used to describe this whisky.
People, please don't take any one person's opinion as gospel, even those who name their works after holy books. Use tasting notes as guides, not final words. Your whisky journey is YOUR whisky journey.
That being said here are my reactions to this whisky. For more distillery info or to see other Laphroaigs had on the mission click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Elegant bourbon sweetness with age apparent. Marzipan and menthol. Tins of tropical fruits, pears, berries and churned butter creaminess. Partsy. Toffee. Some sea brininess and some prawn/shrimp. Smoke lingers below, acting like a mattress for the other flavours to jump on. Boing!
Custard and wood fires. Spicy apple, horse feed, chicken-flavour crisps, big vanillas as a part of a slowly drying oakiness. Candied finish that will surprise Laphroaig drinkers with oak and a dribble of iodine.
SUMMARY:
Could benefit from an abv% boost, especially on the palate but it is almost unreal how generous it is on the nose. I sat with this for along long time and the nose was constantly provocative. Ever-giving whisky that unfortunately under-performs slightly on the palate. Pleasant, unusual and unique finish for a Laphroaig.
As Alaric from Royal Mile Whiskies writes, "Very complex this, but one has to take one's time to get at the Laphroaig; it's there, waiting for you." And as Tim from The Whisky Exchange writes, "A very mellow, restrained expression [...] A malt to unwind with." One more from Dominic Roskrow(Whisky Mag, etc.), "It doesn't disappoint but it will surprise." Have a good weekend...
Malt Mission #176
Malt Mission #177
Malt Mission #178
Malt Mission #179
Malt Mission HOME
Laphroaig 10yo Original Cask Strength
Islay Single Malt Whisky
55.7% abv
£35
Bakers, whisky drinkers, baked whisky drinkers, check THIS out. Also, I just acquired www.drwhisky.com and .co.uk, and was delighted to meet my new e-neighbour(?), www.drywhisky.com
Anyways, today we'll be having Laphroaig Cask Strength. This whisky was awarded Best Single Malt Whisky in the World by Whisky Magazine in 2005.
As many of you know, the regular strength 10yo has been discontinued in some markets, in particular in Canada where folks have been active on forums and in emails to me (and others, I am sure) asking, "why?!" I have addressed the question in past posts but here is an email from John Campbell to the Canadian Friends of Laphroaig.
Dear Friends,
Hoping that you are all well and like us over on Islay, enjoying some autumn sunshine.
For some time now, a number of you have been writing to us and asking about Laphroaig in Canada; therefore, I thought I should let you know the latest news. Unfortunately due to supply we have had to withdraw Laphroaig 10 year old from Canada - we simply do not have enough.
I'm very pleased to say though that the first shipments of our Award Winning Laphroaig Quarter Cask are on their way to liquor stores near you. Laphroaig Quarter Cask, is perhaps our most authentic Laphroaig, with production methods familiar from two hundred years ago. It's indeed an award winner, taking the gold medal at the 2007 San Francisco Wine and Spirits Competition and has a full bodied, complex, smoky and slightly sweeter palate than Laphroaig 10 year. Laphroaig Quarter Cask is created from a range of ages, up to 10 years of age and is a new expression, which we are able to supply to Canada as a replacement for the 10 year old. Suffice to say, we are all proud of it here in Islay; it seems to be going down well over in this neck of the woods!
If you would like to know more about Quarter Cask, please go http://www.laphroaig.com/whiskies/quarter_cask/ Be sure to welcome this bit of Islay genius into your homes.
Slainthe,
John Campbell
Laphroaig Distillery Manager
Okay. So there we go, a personal note of apology... no explanation... no, advertising for Quarter Cask. Why!? Quarter Cask is great, critics and drinkers love it. Shhh. Stay on topic! Tell us WHY there is not enough Laphroaig 10yo for Canada.
The fact is that this 'explanation' is highly unsatisfactory to many folks, it really is. This is not my opinion, it is the opinion of many others openly expressed all over the web (and in a Whisky Mag letter to the editor this month) with varying degrees of anger. Just look at any whisky forum online, THIS or THIS? And it is not just Canucks who have an opinion, whisky nerds with all colours of passports are weighing in.
Most whisky enthusiasts are aware of the big push for expansion in emerging markets of China, India, Russia, etc(read more HERE, HERE or go look it up yourself). It is even news beyond the pages of whisky nerd fora, websites, blogs, and magazines, to my knowledge it has been announced in the British mainstream media on at least a few occasions. To have a loyal customer base completely aware that they are being abandoned for new customers makes any explanation difficult to accept, but to say "we don't have enough" is only half of the truth, or more accurately, only half of the sentence; "we don't have enough FOR YOU"
To be fair, this is also partly a problem with the LCBO, BC Liquor, etc. These provincial monopolies have one product call per year and have a minimum volume (for standard stock). The biggest obstacle to getting the drams Ontarians want is not Beam Global but the LCBO itself. But this controversy has both parties wrapped up in blame and if you can't be honest with your loyal existing customers, what kind of misrepresentations are being practiced to earn new ones?!?
I welcome anyone's response to this issue. I am done talking about it. I live in a free country (for now)...
For more distillery info or to see other Laphroaigs had on the mission click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Soft and sweet for the abv%. Sherry impressions via faint sulphur, but it is seaweed, drying on a beach. Rubber boots. Chocolate eclairs, cheddar cheese, grapefruit. Then the stuff I most often find in Laphroaig: antiseptic creams, hay, and horse manure.
Great warmth. Flavours spread like warm water in a cold tub. Oak and smoke arrive first. Sweet honeyed peat, minty white antiseptic cream, gentle heat. Shortbread. Red licorice Nibs. Late soapiness(or more antispetic?), with lingering toffee or fudge all wrapped up in peat smoke.
SUMMARY:
Quite big, yes, but certainly less offensive than the stereotype, and full of complexity. Crazy mix of flavours, like a smoky cirtus PrepH fudge. Ew. Sorry. Laphroaig for folks who love Laphroaig. Be warned that water brings out lovely oaky, smoky, and biscuit flavours but kills the palate eruption effect... for me.
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Malt Mission HOME
Laphroaig 10yo
Islay Single Malt Whisky
40% abv
£25
An absolutely classic malt whisky, and it only took 177 Malt Missions to get to it! I have said it before and I will say it again: it is a wide and wonderful whisky world out there and the only way to explore it is one dram at a time.
This is the stuff that can polarise whisky drinkers. I have held tastings where both men and women absolutely LOVE the stuff, whether new to malt whisky or not. I have also met folks who spend thousands of pounds a year on whisky and swear they would never touch this stuff. Amazing. Interesting. Crazy. So memorable is Laphroaig that it is famously mispronounced in over 100 different countries with both joy and disdain. Certainly not for everyone.
Prince Charles loves the stuff and many thought he had already had a few when he overshot the runway on a visit to the distillery on Islay in 1994. It was the first (Scottish) whisky I had on Scottish shores over 5 years ago and the only one to be legally imported into the US during prohibition. We will be having 3 Laphroaigs this week on the mission starting, where it must, with the 10 year old.
Sad, too, cuz the 10yo brings up a whole issue I don't want to get into today, but in Canada this product has been discontinued leaving many loyal customers without their drop of choice. I will probably rant on this issue a bit tomorrow.
For more distillery info and to see other Laphroaig's tasted on the mission, click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
A peaty medicinal veil, but you can sense more behind it. Oil paints, prawn crackers, cakey sweetness, seaweed and horse stables. Melon and ash, bubblegum sweetness and iodine.
Malty, and yes, peaty. Great oily feel and taste. Licorice root, sand, walking along a beach. Weighty, if that makes sense. Long finish of creamy vanilla wrapped up in dry horse shit, oak and smoke.
SUMMARY:
Ho ho ho, Green Giant. Big and bold, but elegant in its balance and mouthfeel. Outdoorsy and rural, with all the medicinal and peaty notes upon which it has earned its reputation. Not something I could drink everyday, but when you have that craving, only one dram will cure it. A must-have on the shelf.
Malt Mission #176
Malt Mission #177
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Malt Mission #180
Malt Mission HOME
Laphroaig 27 yo
Islay Single Malt Whisky
57.6% abv
£500
Vatted from five Oloroso sherry casks filled with Laphroaig in 1980 and yielding 972 bottles to be released in the US, UK, and World Duty Free, this new Laphroaig with the sharp black label has a lot of whisky lovers rubbing their hands (and genie lamps) with anticipation.
Sharp but simple packaging, no gold plating or walnut box, and I have checked and Robert Hicks' signature isn't fetching big bucks on eBay... "so, what's with the huge price tag?", you ask.
We need to remember two things: (1) sherry casks don't come cheap and Laphroaig matures almost all of their stock (and many would say Laphroaig matures best) in American ex-bourbon oak casks, so we are tasting something here that could undoubtedly has only a handful of siblings. 5 oloroso casks of one vintage went into this bottling and one imagines that was a big percentage of the total sherry casks filled in 1980 by Laphroaig. (2) Owners Beam Global have obviously been working with a new marketing plan with their Scotch whiskies and they have added new(and welcome) extensions to a Laphroaig line that has been the same for decades. They have brought us Quarter Cask, a new 25yo, and this 27yo. Let's hope they don't decide it wise to 'update' the packaging.
Point is that this stuff is rare and fetching what the folks at Beam Global figure it is worth. If you love Laphroaig (and are stinking rich), this is something you will go to great lengths to get your hands on. And if you love Laphroaig and are a loyal customer and have been for years and have just lost your 10yo or Cask Strength in your market, then tough shit. Sure, Laphroaig may have lost their £25 x 4 times a year customer, but they don't need you if they can sell 1000 of these puppies. This isn't me ranting, this is the new message that folks are hearing. Let's hope it is temporary.
But, frig, that Quarter Cask is tasty. I guess we should be grateful and thank our lucky stars... and pray for a money tree. We will be having a few more Laphroaigs next week.
TASTING NOTES:
Big old nose with smoke and heavy sherry. Tarry, like roadwork. Syrupy, like a glass that was once filled with Coca-Cola and has all evaporated leaving that gummy residue. Melted chocolate, grape Jello, apples, calvados? With time a minty fudginess comes through with (unsoiled) kitty litter, maple syrup and charred oak.
A big impact and viscous, like a whisky reduction. Cold to the tongue somehow, musty. Sherry, chlorine, blood, pipe smoke, plums, cloves, and a late kiss of sexy smoke. Ever developing and drying through the finish with roots of licorice and ginger, spice and smoke.
SUMMARY:
Holy crap. Big monster of a whisky with bucketloads of character and immense chewiness leaving much to mull over. Sherry and peat and more, although certainly not for everyone... but they already made that clear with the price tag, I suppose. A whisky to sip while making a big decision, like whether to sell the house in the Alps or the Penthouse in NYC. Or how to take out a loan to buy another bottle.
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Malt Mission HOME
Laphroaig Quarter Cask
Islay Single Malt Whisky
48% abv
£28
$59.15 (CAD)
$55 (USD)
Welcome to August.
127 Malt Missions before I had a Laphroaig(!) in this jaundiced journey. Crazy. It is a vast whisky world. Such diversity! When someone says "I don't like whisky", it is like saying that they don't like water. Fine, so they don't like water at the gym, or at Shary & Dug's flat, or Dasani, or at the cottage. But that cannot possibly mean they don't like water. There are just too many variants. Laphroaig is unique, challenging water.
Laphroaig ("La-Froyg") has a very high percentage of its output allocated for use as a single malt(45%), much more than the average Scottish whisky distllery so you can understand why they may be reluctant to screw with what works. No, they haven't become known for stunning innovations, clever marketing moves or a cool logo. Laphroaig has repulsed people for generations, and this is not necessarily a bad thing; it has made their spirit unforgettable the world over. The foul stench was enough for customs agents in the U.S. to waive cases through as 'medicine' during Prohibition. This was WAY before single malts were the norm. This was the heyday of blended whiskies (Dewar's, Cutty Sark, especially in America) and this unforgettable Islay single malt accompanied the best music and the lousiest poetry from Augusta, Maine to Aurora, Illinois to Alachula, Florida in the 1920s and early 1930s.
When first encountered, Laphroaig can disrupt one's life for hours, if not days. While for a few it is a revelation, for most it is a fair whisky warning: "if you think it's shitty, then you aren't ready." I've heard it (somewhat vulgarly) compared to Schoenberg and/or sexual acts illegal in some U.S. states and many countries (at one time or another). The point is you gotta ease into it, to learn to love it. Have I mentioned my appreciation for the Glenfiddich adverts?
One of the first nights I lived in Edinburgh I was sitting in what I would learn was an awful bar, stupidly drinking imported shit beer, and Steve McLean bought me a whisky. He told me it was a Laphroaig. All I knew was it tasted like cancer and reminded me of being at the hospital when I was 6 getting my broken leg casted. Nothing positive.
Thank you Laphroaig, you helped launch this pot still passion.
I have rambled on too long here so I will share more history of the distillery in a future Laphroaig post. Currently owned by Jim Beam Global and managed by the Islay-born John Campbell (only 35 years old!), Laphroaig distillery has, in a way, gone back in time with the release of the Quarter Cask. After 5ish years of maturation, they transfer ex-bourbon maturing whiskies into smaller quarter size casks (105 litres), the sort that apparently used to be used for shipping whisky by horse in the 19th century, for about 7 months. This allows 30% more wood contact and all the good stuff that comes with it. Unlike other standard Laphroaig bottlings, they haven't chill-filtered the Quarter Cask and have bottled it at 48% abv.
Officially the only entry-level release from Laphroaig in Ontario once the discontinued (at LCBO) 10yo sells out, Laphroaig is "powerful and for strong men" (R.J.S. McDowall, The Whiskies of Scotland, 1967). Someone from Beam Global, owners of Laphroaig, tells me "The global inventory of that expression is very limited and since there has been such a great response to the Quarter Cask we've simply balanced out the volume with more Quarter Cask. The Quarter Cask will be the only expression that LCBO carries." So get ready to fork out an additional 8 bucks for your Laphroaig fix. But you can rest assured that with your mega dollar you can almost buy TWO for that price at duty free stateside ($68.80 CAD... today).
Bring it, Laphroaig. I'm not scared of you.
TASTING NOTES:
Seductive smells. Ripe, new-make barley sweetness. A barbecue. A flower. A sooty chimney. A horse. A can of condensed milk. A slice of apple and a piece of Gouda. An amazingly tactile nose, if that makes sense; the aromas seem to make physical contact, they touch me.
Oak. Fruit. Grandparents' musty apartments. Soft impact that is very sensual and easy at the higher-than-normal abv%. Toffee and stubbed cigarettes. Nutty cheesiness. Slow arrival of a huge peaty impact and a cloud of smoke. Smoky finish with biscuity chewiness hanging around.
SUMMARY:
An absolute treat to drink. Full-on and not for every mood, but hearty as a good stew. A sweeter, softer, friendlier Laphroaig that still manages to fill every corner of the house of your senses with the medicinal peatiness in ways that only Laphroaig can. And should. And does.
Malt Mission #126
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Malt Mission #130
Malt Mission HOME
