The Laphroaig sessions 2022


Mars 22, 2022

The Laphroaig sessions 2022

Laphroaig

Laphroaig-fueled wisdom, Annie Tempest, 1999 (Whiskyfun Collection)

I'll admit I've been lazy with my Laphroaigs and that they've been kind of piling-up within the last months. Not to mention all those new 'Secret Islays' that they should sell at Boots' rather than at offline or online whisky shops, because of how medicinal they are! We'll do this at random, our nose in the wind…

Laphroaig 'Quarter Cask' (48%, OB, +/-2022)

This should be some extremely young Laphroaig jacked up on freshish oak. We've already tried a very recent bottling last year (it was okayish – WF 78) but I'll be doing every effort, as you can see… Colour: straw. Nose: all on ashes and wood smoke, then lemon squash and, indeed, mercurochrome and cough syrup. I'm not finding it as vanilla-y as earlier batches, whether old or recent, which I find kind of reassuring. Mouth: oily arrival, with loads of lemon drops, citrus-wine gums, then some brine, pickled lemons and then sawdust and just 'smoke'. I find it pretty good, just rather elementary. Finish: rather long, with a little white pepper, more sawdust, lemon jam and a sugary touch. Comments: good, but it feels a bit like the sweetish oak remained on the surface. In my book, all official age-stated Laphroaigs are beating this humble one. But then again, I think it's still pretty good.
SGP:655 - 79 points.

Perhaps another youngster, one that would tell its age?

Laphroaig 7 yo 2012/2019 (55.2%, Sansibar for Slainte, 367 bottles)

Colour: pale white wine. Nose: warm, extremely bready, a tad acidic too, slightly butyric, all these things being assets here. Sourdough, smoky pot ale, mashed potatoes, truffles, oysters… With water: smoked mercurochrome blended with salted lemon juice and weissbeer. Mouth (neat): very sweet, new-makey, fermentary, with sweet beer, more sourdough bread, rhubarb and asparagus, a little chili… Then many more lemons. With water: some toasted oak and butterscotch coming out, café latte, otherwise brine and beer, with a wee metallic touch (beer can). Finish: long, on just the same flavours, with an even saltier aftertaste, and a glass of riesling, hoppla. Comments: still a baby if not a boy wonder, but already very good, I would say.
SGP:467 - 85 points.

We'll also try some 'unassumed' Laphroaigs the provenance of which we have not doubts about. Such as…

Williamson 2010/2020 (53.1%, The Whisky Jury, for wine4you, refill barrel, cask #twj-Lph02, 225 bottles)

Williamson 2010/2020 (53.1%, The Whisky Jury, for wine4you, refill barrel, cask #twj-Lph02, 225 bottles)
Come on, everybody knows that Williamson is Laphroaig 'blended on the paper'. Plus, there's the story of Bessie Van Gils (a.k.a. Williamson) etc. Colour: white wine. Nose: ravishing rounder coastalness, seashells (our beloved whelks are back), sunflower oil, custard, then chalked slate and really more and more olives and capers. In their brines. With water: more cigar ashes, coal, seaweed… And olives. Mouth (neat): huge, high-precision smoky monster. Even more capers and olives in there, smoked kippers, oysters, limestone (as in a young Chablis)… With water: we're drinking olive brine. Finish: long, growing more lemony, which always works. Comments: there's more olive in there than in the best mezcal. BTW we might do a super-large mezcal session in June or July, if God and Vladimir Vladimirovich let us live. They should both drink more Williamson.
SGP:457 - 89 points.

Laphroaig 2001/2020 (53.9%, Cask 88, Scottish Folklore, Léoville Las Cases finish, cask #1700368, 270 bottles)

Boy are we late… It's true that the fact that this is heavy Islay that's been dancing for two years with heavy St Julien (red Bordeaux) remains a tad scary here at WF Towers. Peat and red wine, riiiight. Colour: golden amber. Not pink. Nose: bell pepper, truffle, fig leaves, kid's toothpaste, charcoal, cassis, tarmac, tomato leaves… With water: new rubber boots and more tomato leaves and stems. Mouth (neat): totally odd but, quite bizarrely, not integrally dissonant. Rubber, maraschino, tar, Szechuan pepper… It's just that this is something else. Where am I? Who am I? Existentialist whisky… Does the whisky world have any meaning at all anyway? And the whole world? With water: the distillate having the upper hand (hurray) but the peppers got even more extreme as well. Finish: very long, rubbery, leafy. Comments: I don't know, I really don't know, it's such a long way from the base… And from Kildalton. Very different from Cask 88's other whiskies, which are excellent – and certainly less experi-'mental'.
SGP:377 - 75 points.

Laphroaig 10 yo 'Original Cask Strength Batch 14' (58.6%, OB, 2021)

My-God-the-first-batches! Sometimes you would believe Schumpeter was right with whisky too. The latest batch we've tried was #11 and we thought it was 'excellent-not-great' (WF 86). The first batches had been like 'wow!' Colour: gold. Nose: more oak than before, that's for sure. This is dry, ashy, with only tiny bits of mangos. I would swear it really needs water. With water: vanilla, sawdust, tea (tea?) and bacon, then more shoe polish. Bonfire. Mouth (neat): excellent upfront. A funny cologne touch at first, absolutely not unpleasant, certainly some sawdust as in any modern Laphroaigs (not my dope but there), then this massive smoke + lemon + salt + iodine combo that just works, even when things get extremely simple. With water: tight, salty, lemony, with acidic and vinegary touches that are working extremely well. Finish: long and, drumroll please, rather akin to fino sherry! Although I doubt there would be any sherries in there. A little leather and leaves in the aftertaste. Comments: we're still very far from the first 10 CSs, but this simpler, more rustic composition sure has its charms. The problem is the indies…
SGP:357 - 86 points.

Lp11 2005/2020 (52.2%, Elixir Distillers 'Elements of Islay', bourbon barrels, 496 bottles)

I'll say it again, we're very late indeed with our Laphroaigs. Colour: white wine. Nose: a sweeter fresher nose, with rather more fresh fruits than usual, especially strawberries (but there's a story between peat and strawberries, just ask maltsters). IPA, pink grapefruits, wool, porridge, pink pepper… I think this should be pretty lovely. With water: almond cream, lady's moisturiser, grist and barley, iodine, touch of juniper, grapefruit skin, pine needles… Lovely, really. Mouth (neat): very eau-de-vie-ish this time. Sugar, bonbons, even pear drops, then salt and lemon juice. Very young and very pure (we'll call this one 'Greta'). With water: rawer peat, salt, genever and lapsang souchong. The complexity that was in the nose is gone but that was to be expected. Finish: long, salty and rather more medicinal. Some would call this 'bandagey'. Comments: extra-point for the purity.
SGP:367 - 87 points.

A last one, quickly…

Laphroaig 20 yo 2001/2021 (58.3%, La Maison du Whisky, Artist #11)

Colour: white wine. Nose: ah yes, well, this works. Smoked bread and cakes, pita bread, garden bonfire, lit cigar, black chocolate and engine oil. Yet another variation on the Laphroaig theme. Water should change it. With water: straight to chalk and wool, embrocations and bandages, also fresh almonds and walnuts. I mean walnuts of the day. Mouth (neat): a very bright, almondy, resinous arrival, with a feeling of fresh oil paint and just wee apples. Then just cider apples. With water: more freshness, this time rather on liquorice wood, softer brine, those wee pink olives, green tomato chutney… Finish: long, rather delicate, complex, with white asparagus and lemon curd in the aftertaste. I think. Comments: extremely good. The arty label is neat too (no boring white-on-a-white-background that's so un-Web).
SGP:467 - 88 points.

I know we said that would be the last one, but is this Whiskyfun or is it not Whiskyfun?

Laphroaig 32 yo 1988/2020 (45.7%, The Syndicate, cask #9203, 126 bottles)

Bottled by Murray McDavid (are they still on here?) for Sir John's gang of crazy whisky nuts. In general, The Syndicate's Islays are the best one could find using legal means. Colour: gold. Nose: we all know this, at 30 years of age and unless sheltered in ridiculous woods (red wine, virgin etc.) the grandest peaters from the Isle of Islay become even grander, do the peacock's tail, and would just burst into uncontrolled myriads of dazzling aromas. Right, right, passion fruits, mangos, tangerines, oats, almond milk, spent engine oil, church candle, old hessian bags, then earthy teas (green pu-her), just oranges, hand cream, cockles and winkles… And whatnot. This is what some would sometimes call 'a fractal nose'. Mouth: some great fun here, the cask having become a little piney, certainly deviant, herbal, very tobacco-y, liquoricy… The coastal saltines would then fight back, with rather a lot of, well, salt, plus samphires and edible seaweed, wakame, kombu and compadres. Finish: long, salty and more on small citrus, yuzu and… compadres. Wakame and yuzu, that's the (unusual) leading duet here. Lemony peppers, bitter almonds. Comments: very coastal, complex, gastronomic… And almost not medicinal at all. A great variant despite a few fragilities here and there.
SGP:366 - 89 points.

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