This should be interesting, as there's only one distillery in all of Scotland that I'm consistently never buying anything other than Cask Strength whiskies of. It's Laphroaig. This is first of all because it seems to me that the what happens when I dilute my Laphroaig, it almost never gets any better. And almost all Laphroaig that I've ever had at cask strength has been kinda spectacular. I have had one or two nice samples of bottlings at about 40%abv, but never anywhere close to the good CS versions. There, I said it, and I'm sure many will disagree, but that's my opinion.
Laphroaig 20yo 1990-2010 50.6% Creative Whisky Company cask#5928
It has been said that Laphroaigs distilled in the middle to late 90's seemed to a bit less expressive, to use a finer word, than bottlings from before that. I have however only tried one Laphroaig distilled in the 80's and that was amazing, and a couple ones distilled in the early 00's, again splendid stuff. So, all of these have been distilled in the 90's, but only this one prior to the aforementioned "down-period". This one is light in color. The nose is classical Islay stuff, peaty, coastal, turpentine, gasoline, smoke, wet moss, honey and burnt fabric. The taste is kind of prickly on the tongue, again these huge burnt acidic notes, turpentine, gasoline and burnt rubber, the peatiness is fighting with all weird and sort of chemical notes, and all in all, though I wouldn't say it's a bad whisky, it's certainly for the ones that prefers the whisky for the mouth to be like a Pollock painting is to the eye.
I think this whisky will make more sense the more time you spend with it: 6.5
Laphroaig 12yo 1998-2010 52.4% The Whisky Agency
The Whisky Agency usually doesn't bottle whiskies at this young age, but seeing how much alcohol has left already, I think it's probably a clever move on their part. From an ex-bourbon hogshead. What is the difference between an ex-bourbon hogshead and a bourbon hogshead, as I see both cask descriptions are being used. I think it's the same, but the latter sounds a wee bit better as very few things that are good starts with "ex-". White wine color, the nose is sweet, all on aniseeds, vanilla and cumin. Some peat in the background, but it's more like a sweet smokiness than Islay peat as I know it. The taste is full of black pepper and licorice, pretty bland for such a young Laphroaig, I'm afraid this is pretty much it of what I can give you so far. The aftertaste is burnt and peppery. I'm afraid this was a bit of a letdown, or maybe my expectations were to high?
Pretty one-dimensional and light Laphroaig: 4
Laphroaig 13yo 1998-2011 52.5% Malts of Scotland cask#11007
Well, the bad news first. It has the same vintage and almost same strength as the Whisky Agency version. The difference is that this one comes from a sherry cask. But it's a sherry hogshead, which to me, means it's a small cask that they've refilled with old sherry, something many do nowadays as the prices on the cask market rises. I've been a bit skeptical to this procedure, but perhaps this one could help change my mind? It's a bit darker than the bourbon-matured ones in this tasting, but not much. The nose is heavier, honey, peat, dried paprika, chopped onions, mint leaves, cinnamon, a crisp and clean sherried one. The taste is burnt, dark chocolate, toffee, walnuts, dry wheat bread, intricate and alluring, it gives me the impression I can handle A LOT of this whisky. The aftertaste is of licorice and sunflower oil.
Again very simple, but I think the cask adds a dimension or two: 5.5
Laphroaig 13yo 1996-2010 57.6% Malts of Scotland cask#7307
This one, on the other hand, is from a bourbon hogshead, and it's pale as straw, but what intrigues me the most is that it has a noticeably higher %abv. Which is always a good thing when it comes to Laphroaig, at least I think so. The nose is huge on marzipan, roasted almonds, balsamic vinegar, dried sage, smoke, gunpowder, bonfire and a very light and easy sweetness, sort of the one you get when pan-frying spring onions. The taste is again, much bigger than what were in the prior two, massive peat attack, honey, roasted almonds, pickled anchovies, cinnamon, feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. A rich, smoky, sumptuous and playful Laphroaig, just the way I like them.
The definite highlight of this tasting: 8
Next tasting: Caol Ila Distillery
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