Features, Scotch, Whisky Blog
Laphroaig whisky: are you ready to become a true apostle?
Nov
Becoming a true Laphroaig fan takes a commitment to flavour and whisky experience that not everyone can handle
If you plan on drinking Laphroaig, then you best brush up on your adjectives, because this is a competition that is played at the highest level. Laphroaig fans wake early to out-describe the flavour of this most famous of peaty whiskies. It’s chewable, waxy, chalky, with flavours of tar and machine oil. You’ll discover taste references to plastic and saline and wave after wave of smoke. And these are the positives. People drink this incredible whisky for the experience as much as the flavour, and interpreting what’s in the glass is a modern sport of kings (and queens).
For 150 years it was a family business, operating on its own slice of Islay since 1815. It’s still on this mysterious island today but is now part of the Beam Suntory family. Before that happened though, it ran a legion of firsts, including witnessing the first female distillery manager in Bessie Williamson, who took over in 1954.
Beating a path is traditional business for this king of smoke and it wears its crown lightly. It’s difficult to claim to know whisky without a very personal and definitive judgment on this noble brand, learned by the glass. Is it time to start your own lesson?
Here are three bottles to whet your appetite and boost your collection:
Laphroaig 25 Cask Strength
This is a cask strength single malt released in 2019 and bottled at 51.4%. The product of a bourbon and oloroso maturation, its 25 years in wood has created a fantastic personality-driven dram. Those waves of smoke are ever present here but also the iodine and salt of its coastal location.
You’ll find honey and autumn fruits balancing out the smoke on the nose while lots of vanilla, toffee, honey and spice compliments the peat on the palate. A long traditional finish defines Laphroaig and it comes with a sweetness and vanilla that’s entirely wrapped up in more smoke. Definitely chewable.
Laphroaig Old Malt Cask 14
This single cask, single malt is a terrific whisky that heralds peat bonfire smoke, iodine, seaweed and a medicinal finish that certainly captures the imagination.
Bottled at 50%, it’s a relatively low cask strength but with tons of flavour. Bottled by independent bottler Hunter Laing, there were just 347 of these bottles produced. The cask where it spent its 14 years was a sherry butt and this brings its own honeyed sweetness to the palate.
Laphroaig 13 Chieftain’s Ian Macleod
This bottle is part of the Chieftain’s series created by Ian Macleod, the independent bottler. They select small batch and single cask rare malts from all over Scotland to build this superior series. This is one of the Laphroaig’s they’ve included.
It’s a 48% single malt taken from 13-year-old sherry butts and limited to 1,502 bottles. It’s a small batch release that fans say captures the DNA of Laphroaig perfectly. Its dark colour is derived solely from the wood and it captures the peaty smoke, sweet herb and sherry finish that gives Laphroaig its decadent and meaty edge.
