Laphroaig 10 yo (40%, OB, miniature, -/+2015)
Sadly, I don’t have a current 10yo to hand, however, I do have this wee mini which has been sitting around my flat for a few years now. I cannot remember for the life of me how I came to possess it but it’s probably from around 5 years ago. Colour: gold. Nose: seawater, hessian, dried seaweed, iodine, pure peat smoke, bonfire ashes and wee touches of ink, canvass and light herbal touches. Modern Laphroaig for sure, but it remains indomitably ‘Laphroaig!’ - probably why this distillery continues to hold such sway over many a mind. Mouth: as with the nose I would say it’s a drier and rather more saline batch. Sooty, briny, camphory and rather oily with lots of black pepper, iodine, dried seaweed, tar and rather punchy medicines. There’s also a rather emphatic smokiness that’s tinged with heather and kilned malt. Finish: medium but with a lot of plain peat smoke lingering, and a notch more wood sweetness. Comments: I would love to compare this to a bottling just off the shelf. But it still reeks of ‘Laphroaig 10’, perhaps why this remains so stubbornly a brilliant and unequivocal classic bottling. Having said that, it’s also an extremely changeable bottling from batch to batch, perhaps why we geeks cannot help but continue to love it. It remains, at the end of the day, fun. And what would whisky be without fun.
SGP: 467 - 86 points.

Laphroaig 10 yo (43%, OB, US import Hiram Walker, late 1980s)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: there’s a definite ancestry to the mini, but we’re in another time really. The fruits come first - mango, pineapple, passion fruit - then the peat kind of eases itself from the glass slowly. Everything about this feels gentle, unhurried and easy going, which is whisky really translates into pleasure. There’s these wee touches of engine oil, sheep wool, coal smoke, natural tar, herbal cough medicines and iodine drops. In time it evolves a slightly more punchy grassy smokiness, which feels like a step in the direction of modernity and adds an extra layer of complexity. Mouth: beautiful arrival, all on smoked olive oil, natural tar, hessian, seawater and things like lemon rind, underripe green apples, mineral oil and bath salts. Hints of salted almonds, pastis and dried exotic fruit chunks. Finish: long, mineral, dryly smoky, gently herbal, peaty and getting very saline in the aftertaste. Comments: There’s never really been anything else quite like this flavour in Scotch Whisky. ‘Old Laphroaig’ can go alongside something like ‘garlic’ or ‘coffee’ in terms of singular distinctiveness I would argue. Anyway, it’s a great one as expected. I’m also very happy as it was from this very bottle that Dad and I last shared a Laphroaig 10.
SGP: 555 - 91 points.

Laphroaig 10 yo (43%, OB, Vinalda import for Portugal, -/+ 1980)
A rather rare Portuguese import. Colour: gold. Nose: gah! We are deep in Bonfanti territory. Lashings of sheep wool, dried exotic fruits, leathery peat, cough medicines and wee tertiary hints of salty sherry - even rancio! Just exquisite. I’d also add that it feels rather more like a 60s style of distillate and indeed this could be a late 70s bottling so entirely possible. Earthy, herbal, leafy, briny and fruity. Stunningly complex and harmoniously balanced. Mouth: even at 43% the whisky feels huge. That sense of restrained, coiled power. Oily peat, boiler smoke, kiln air, natural tar, syrupy herbal cough medicines, iodine, dried mango, passion fruit sours, preserved lemons, citronella wax and gently smoked malt. Close to the raw ingredients while also managing to be otherworldly. A flavour and style that sits beyond obvious metrics of ‘maturity’ or ‘age’. Finish: immense, long, deeply oily, peaty and full of lingering, elegantly wispy peat smoke, dried seaweed, game meats, leather, herbal liqueur and things like bouillon and umami broths. Comments: Again, not entirely unexpected. But no matter how many of these very old 10s you try, it is almost impossible not to be flabbergasted anew every time.
SGP: 656 - 94 points.

Laphroaig 17 yo 1999/2016 (58.1%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #29.190 ‘Divine dark temptation’, refill sherry butt, 582 bottles)
Colour: rosy gold. Nose: big, oily and freshly coastal at first. Crab sticks, smoky BBQ sauce, smoked mint, paprika, squid ink, tar, iodine, balsamic and seaweed in ramen broth. Gets increasingly tarry and medial with plenty hessian and black pepper. Powerful yet well composed and restrained. With water: gets much saltier and rather prickly. Lots of cured meats such as spicy salami. Also miso, soy sauce and anchovy butter. Mouth: a big spoonful of textually oily, greasy peat. Turf, burning heather, black olives in brine, tar, coal smoke, sandalwood, grilled oysters with garlic and herbal ointments. Also some wee hints of lavender and some kind of smoked honey. An excellent and very clean cask I’d say. With water: kippers, olive oil mixed with pure brine, lemon juice, wood ash and camphor. Syrupy in texture and almost like molten bacon fat. Finish: wonderfully long and full of grilling meats, shellfish, iodine, tar, coal smoke, peaty kiln air and fish sauce. Comments: I rather think these 1990s vintages of Laphroaig are still a wee bit overlooked. The character is certainly different from the old 80s official bottlings. But, between the pre-90s and post-2000 style I think it increasingly stands alone as its own decade with its own hallmarks. I’d also add that they seem to only be improving with age. This one was a terrific wee powerhouse of a dram.
SGP: 377 - 90 points.

Laphroaig 21 yo 1998/2019 (54.4%, The Whisky Exchange, cask #117, oloroso sherry finish, 322 bottles)
This one was re-racked into an oloroso sherry cask in 2010, so really a double maturation rather than a finish I suppose. Colour: amber. Nose: fruits, game meats, leather, damp earthen wine cellars, leaf mulch and gentle wafts of hessian, natural tar and herbal teas. Unequivocally beautiful on the nose, nodding to the past in fact with these rather overt fruity qualities. Coal dust, lanolin, wee vegetal touches and things like bacon jam, black olives and very old Fernet Branca. With water: gets leaner, more salty and more nervous. All these quivering coastal touches, lemon peel, pebbles, sheep wool, aspirin, winter spices and more dense meaty aspects. Mouth: terrifically tarry, jammy and densely textural on arrival. Bags of expensive dark chocolate, fruity black coffee, pure hessian cloth, dunnage, prunes, aged armagnac, salty old oloroso sherry and things like mutton soup and praline. All manner of complexities pinging and popping here and there. Goes to show, re-racking can do wonders if you leave it long enough. With water: more of everything but it becomes wider, easier, more open and a little deeper with more notes of bitter chocolate, a heavier earthiness, more meats, coffee, herbal bitters and smoked chilli. Finish: superbly long, meaty, chocolatey and showing this rather peppery peat flavour. Bitter mint in the aftertaste with miso and soy sauce. Comments: To think, I tried this at the Old & Rare show but didn’t buy a bottle. I’m am, it would seem, an idiot. A total thrill ride of a Laphroaig that nods in more than a few ways to the past. Hats off to whoever at Elixir was responsible for this.
SGP: 566 - 92 points.

Laphroaig 28 yo 1989 (90 proof / 51.4%, Private bottling for Club Qing and friends)
Colour: gold. Nose: we’re not a million miles away from the 1998 with this rather ethereal, encroaching fruitiness that meanders about the top of the glass. Salted mead, trampled dandelions, lemon peel, pineapple syrup and some rather more tertiary notes of carbon paper and old ink wells. In time it becomes more saline, gently tarry and showing more hessian and earth. In some ways it really follows a similar progression as the old 80s 10 year olds often do. With water: an impression of creaminess and a much more direct herbal quality, some coconutty gorse flower, mineral oil, bath salts and smoked sea salt. Really quite impressive complexity and elegance now. Mouth: initially much sweeter and oilier than the nose suggested, with more hessian, vegetables and biscuity richness up front. Some lovely notes of smoked cereals, stout beers, heather ales and malt extract. A lightly briny peaty flavour and an elegantly textural oiliness. Starts to really feel like a bigger version of a 1990s OB 10 year old - which is no bad thing! With water: superb now! Fruity, floral, salty, complex smokiness and lots of wee herbal inclusions. Also meaty aspects and a rather syrupy, fruity sweetness. Finish: long, gently peaty, soft smokiness, olive oil, gorse, coal tar soap, herbal teas, camphor and even a kind of sooty waxiness. Comments: What I love here is the feeling of constant evolution, every step feels connected and yet distinct in and of itself. There’s also a wonderfully elegant complexity and a strong sense of distillery identity. Highly pleasurable.
SGP: 656 - 91 points.

Laphroaig 14 yo 1973/1987 (40%, Avery’s of Bristol)
Avery’s were one of several Bristol wine and spirits merchants who imported, sold and bottled many fine spirits in their day. Colour: coppery amber. Nose: 40%? Really, are you sure? Huge notes of turfy peat mingling with pure, resinous, ancient sherry. Piles of old leather, furniture polish, sultanas and raisins soaked in brandy, dark chocolate riddled with sea salt and things like long-cured game meats, animal furs and soy sauce. Thrillingly complex, the kind of aroma you could dissect for hours. Dried mushrooms, aged pu era tea, damp pipe tobaccos - just brilliant. There’s also this pervasive, dark thread of herbal peat knitting everything together, like an organic bass-thrum sitting beneath everything. Mouth: Stunning! Amazing concentration of flavours. Rich, dense, herbal, turfy, rooty, sweet peat - like peat cordial. Then a lattice of preserved and dried exotic fruits. Olive oil sweetened with ancient herbal liqueurs, a few drops of pure iodine and all manner of tertiary notes of pumpernickel bread, black olive, wood spices, stewed dark fruits, smoked chocolate, bitter espresso and precious hardwood resins. As big as whisky can really be at 40%. In time the peat becomes almost dusty and palpably brittle and crunchy. Finish: long, leathery, drying, slightly minty, deep but gently smoky, meaty, tarry and profoundly medical and herbal. Still all these wee glimmers of dark and exotic fruits - all dried out and preserved. A smoky warmth lingers for an age in the aftertaste. Comments: totally, utterly stunning whisky. Just the epitome of pure, easy, guzzable pleasure in Scotch Whisky. Makes you weep over the size of the sample! Kills most modern whiskies stone dead with the sheer force of its classiness alone.
SGP: 566 - 94 points.

Laphroaig 1968/1983 (43%, Berry Brothers)
There was also a 1963 and a 1964 bottled around this time, both of which are pretty incredible. Colour: amber. Nose: we’re not a million miles away from the 1973, except here the peat is bigger and more concentrated. It’s more dominated by this divine saline and leathery density. You really know you are wading deep into 60s Laphroaig when you nose this. Profoundly concentrated, brimming with old style herbaceous, earthy peaty smoke. Meats, coffee, preserved dark fruits, liquorice, black pepper and tar liqueur. Umami, salty, meaty, herbal and superbly medical. A total masterclass. Mouth: majestic arrival! Immensely dry, earthy, sooty, chocolatey and brimming with this wonderfully dry herbal peat smoke. Sooty, waxy, tarry, medical and wonderfully fat and punchy. The peat becomes almost grizzly but it's wrapped perfectly in a dense quilt of very resinous and salty old sherry, there’s also quite a sizzling bacon note and bags of rancio and salted walnuts. Another one that just seems to evolve and go on forever. Finish: endlessly long, fatty, almost greased with old school peat, tinned exotic fruit syrups, rancio, tar, black olive… you get the picture by now right? Comments: You have to cut these things short sometimes otherwise you just go off the rails like a maniac. Anyway, stuff like this is why we’re into whisky in the first place. And, perhaps more specifically, still in love with Laphroaig after all these years. There is black magic at work here…
SGP: 667 - 94 points.

Laphroaig 12 yo (80 proof, Cadenhead, 1960s)
This was bottled by the old Cadenhead company when it was run by that mad woman in Aberdeen before Hedley Wright purchased it. These bottlings are of course extremely hard to come by now, and understandably spoken of in hushed tones. However, in my experience they can also be quite changeable too. I’ve seen a number of these old 12yo Laphroaigs and it seems that Cadenhead at the time issued it over a number of years in multiple batches. I’ve had one in Japan which I found good but arguably a disappointment (WF: 89), however some can be totally out of this galaxy (see Serge’s own notes: WF:96). This one comes from a bottle opened by Sukhinder for the Old & Rare show earlier this year. Colour: pale gold. Nose: it’s a good one. The power and the salinity of the distillate are immediate and pretty devastating. Whelks slapped on a hot grill, lemon juice mixed with brine, mineral salts, petrol, tar and, in time, many tiny exotic fruits emerging. Passion fruit, mango, guava, kiwi, all wrapped in this immense coastal character and something like salted wax. Power, precision, poise and stunning beauty. Mouth: the saltiness remains the dominant force. Leathery, tarry, inky and showing lots of putty, camphor, olive oil and even cereals and raw vegetables. There’s also a hint of OBE as well with these notes of metal polish and steel wool, but it’s a pleasing OBE and the distillate still dominates. Coal smoke, lanolin, sandalwood and many, many gentle notes of ointment. Finish: long, very saline and full of shellfish meats, light tarry notes, more sandalwood, green pepper, dried seaweed and nervous exotic fruit notes. Comments: Stunning, but not one of the hyper-glorious batches. Having said that, it’s also probably ever so slightly tired. I’m not sure what the level in the bottle was at the time of opening, but it remains a technically stunning whisky. And beyond that, it’s also historically fascinating as this is 1950s Laphroaig, and indeed the style is divergent from the 60s bottlings. Somewhere out there, there’s probably a version at 100 proof. In magnum!
SGP: 456 - 93 points.

Laphroaig 30 yo 1966/1996 (48.9%, Signatory Vintage, cask #561, hogshead, 142 bottles)
These two casks from a legendary parcel of stock that Andrew Symington acquired in the mid-90s from John Gross. Mr Gross had held the license to import Laphroaig in America many years previously. They’ve since gone on to become deservedly legendary bottlings. Colour: gold. Nose: pure and exquisitely coastal. Pink sea salt, waxy lemon rind and many touches of camphor, brine and even more menthol touches like eucalyptus oils and mint tea. Given a little time the fruits emerge: passion fruit, papaya, mango, pineapple. Almost quivers with this gelatinous mix of fruits and beautifully delicate peat smoke. A harmonious, deeply complex and almost poetically beautiful nose that feels pristinely structured, poised and in total control of itself. With water: seawater mixed with limoncello, salted liquorice, beeswax, hessian, vapour rubs and globally drier, leaner and more ruthlessly precise. Mouth: wonderful attack, all on nervous, brittle coastal and saline complexities. Dried seaweed, ink, aged tar liqueurs, bundled dried herbs and mineral oil. The fruits are here too but they feel waxier, dried out and rather desiccated, things like banana chips, dried mango chunks and passion fruit seeds. The peat is oily, tarry and drying with this rather waspish smokiness. Could be anywhere from 15 - 35 years old in some ways, there’s this ethereal ‘out of time’ feel about it. With water: gah! Just astonishing power, richness of smoke, deeper peat notes, a broader, sparser fruitiness and the impression of many exotic teas. Some lighter wood spice and white pepper notes too. Finish: luminous, endless, impeccably saline, citric, inky, herbal, lightly tarry and delivering all these silky smoky and mineral notes. Comments: One of these old Islay whiskies that feels like it comes from another galaxy entirely. Quite simply, an impeccable collaboration between barley, yeast, water, oak and time. This is why I love whisky.
SGP: 566 - 94 points.

Laphroaig 30 yo 1966/1997 (50.6%, Signatory Vintage, cask #1089, hogshead, 130 bottles)
I am indebted to Emmanuel for the chance to try this one head to head with cask 561. Merci beaucoup Manu! Colour: gold, a shade darker. Nose: the same, but a little ‘darker’ in its fruitiness. A notch sweeter and giving the impression of a more syrupy texture. A softer salinity and a more herbal accent emerging over time. Still the same stunning, poetically mesmeric quality of whisky. With water: the fruits really start to push to the fore now. Takes on a more ‘jellied’ fruit style akin to 561, only here there’s an added layer of petroleum jelly and citronella wax. Mouth: more tarry, a bigger sense of fattiness and meatiness. Cured meats and salt cured white fish. But also herbal teas, umami broths and, once again, this rather dried exotic fruit style with many bitter and pithy citrus peels. With water: wider, fruitier, fatter in texture, oilier and with a more gutsy coastal and petrol quality. Draws you and takes total control. Finish: same story, long enough to just lose yourself in amongst all these wee flashes of fruits, herbs, pure peat smoke, earth, wax, seashore, citrus and minerals. Comments: The extra strength and textural sweetness give this one the edge for me. But they are both amongst the most pleasurable spirits ever made by man, we are skimming within a whisper of 96 points here.
SGP: 666 - 95 points.