December 2, 2015

Laphroaig, a stairway to heaven

Yeah well, a stairway to heaven is fine, but doesn’t it depend on where you’ve started from? The owners seem to have found out that to catch and sustain attention, you need to issue new bottlings every two weeks. Okay, three. With a lot of NAS. In fact we won’t try most of those, because we find them rather unimportant (and because there are 245,672,687,566 other new whiskies to try), but a new or newish Laphroaig bearing an age statement will always be welcome at WF Towers. Such as this baby from last year…

Laphroaig 12 yo (48%, OB, for the Nordics, sherry butts and 1st fill hogsheads, 1278 bottles, 2014)

Colour: deep gold. Nose: the oak feels a bit, it’s a somewhat thickish nose, without Laphroaig’s usual brightness, and rather more sappy notes than usual. A little camphor as well, almond oil, then bitter oranges, and raisins. A wee feeling of fino sherry, which is nice. Mouth: sweet arrival, then a peaty blast, then a thick layer of oak spices. A touch of lavender ice cream, some salt for sure, raisins, some gentian eau-de-vie, with this rooty side, and then rather eucalyptus. Good body, solid mouth feel. Or the other way ‘round. Finish: rather long, on peated raisins. Perhaps. Comments: the casks feel as in a finishing, so it rather feels like a ‘flavoured’ Laphroaig, a little mellowed down. But Laphroaig’s good spirit, so this is good whisky – albeit a modern one. SGP:457 - 82 points.

Lp6 (51.3%, Specialty Drinks, Elements of Islay, 2015, 50cl)

Liked Lp5 quite a lot (WF 86). Colour: gold. Nose: much closer to the distillate, cleaner, brighter, tenser, and yet not exactly explosive (so to speak). What’s sure is that the briny and medicinal style is much more obvious. Kippers too. With water: becomes extremely medicinal. Band Aid, camphor, embrocations… Laphroaig, eh. Mouth (neat): typical clean, pungent, yet perfectly balanced arrival, between lemons, smoke, brine, and this little rooty side. It’s this citrus that I was missing in the OB. Goes on with more citrus, a little vanilla (lemon curd, tarte), and always this salty and coastal side. With water: an earthy peat comes to the front. Some grass, grapefruit skins… Finish: long, well chiselled, salty, with a minty side. More kippers in the aftertaste. Comments: maybe is it very young, but it does feel like a 1998 or something. Excellent. SGP:457 - 87 points.

Speaking of 1998…

Laphroaig 16 yo 1998/2015 (59.9%, Signatory Vintage for The Whisky Exchange, refill sherry, cask # 700389, 585 bottles)

Loved 2013’s 1998 (WF 89). Colour: amber. Nose: zim bam boom! The exact combination, peat and sherry like Jagger and Richards. We’ve seen many fails with this combination, but this one seems to be perfect. Salty and smoked chocolate, seawater, leather, smoked fish, soy sauce, a little ink… What’s not to like? With water: indeed. Linseed oil, almond oil, oysters and curry sauce, ham, more seawater, iodine, bandages… Mouth (neat): exactly perfect, since this tart lemon adds zing and zest to the combo. Very great. With water: swims like Shirley Babashoff. The tax evaders starting with ‘Goo’ are your friends. Oysters, bitter chocolate, brine, earth, porcinis (dried then moistened)… Finish: very long, with tons of salted and smoked chocolate. Comments: why wouldn’t the owners issue such bottlings? Magnificent selection. SGP:467 - 91 points.

I’m really pleased, so let’s celebrate with an old glory – and just be a little careful because of the much lower strength…

Laphroaig 10 yo (70 proof, OB, UK, 75.7cl, +/-1960?)

A very rare bottle, the bottlings for Italy being more common – without being common of course. Colour: gold. Nose: any whisky lover should try to taste these old Laphroaig 10. Unblended, Cinzano, Philippi, Bonfanti, Sommerset, whatever, it’s almost obligatory to have tried one of those at least once. Yes, I know they have got very expensive, but gather a few friends and share a bottle! What’s really impressive here is the way it displays many tropical fruits, while keeping an ‘idea’ of a coastal smokiness in the background. Maracuja, mangos, hessian, dried kelp, not-too-ripe pineapples, garden bonfire, old books and papers... What’s even more impressive is the way it holds its head high, after the powerhouse from TWE. Mouth: I had found it a little subdued when the bottle was opened, but after a few days of breathing, it just got utterly splendid. The complexity is amazing, and actually, you just don’t know where to start. With these grapefruits? The pineapples? The salted fish? The smoked seashells? The lapsang souchong? The kiwis? The fresh oils and butters? The old-style cough syrups? The dry white wines? The notes of liquorice allsorts mingled with the ashes and cigar smokes? My, what a glorious glory! In fact, there are hundreds of other flavours, but I guess you’ve got other things to do… Finish: medium, but so complex and ‘peacock-taily’ (apologies) that it brings you straight to nirvana. Comments: buy a bottle, share. Those 2 or 3cls alone will be worth cases of contemporary unaged oak-doped whiskies. One small Alba truffle vs. 25 kilos of Nutella! SGP:656 - 96 points.

Good, I had planned to try a few more Laphroaigs, but that just got impossible to do. I agree, not that that was unforeseeable… So see you next time, with more Laphroaig.

(Olivier, merci!lll)

Check the index of all Laphroaig I've tasted so far