I love Islay whiskies. I enjoy whiskies from all of the Islay distilleries but there is nothing like a Laphroaig. All of the Islay distilleries have their own quirks but Laphroaig is a beast all it’s own. It has these nasty medicinal, iodine, dirty, peat flavors that you eventually fall in love with. I don’t think I’ve had a bad Laphroaig although “Laphroaig Select” is nothing I would purchase again. Let’s get to this Laphroaig 10yr old Cask Strength Batch 008.
The smell of this is great - it’s Vegetal, Peat, Smoke, Salt, Brine, Vanilla, Sweet Candy, cherry, menthol, medicinal, band aids as well as some alcohol burn
The taste is Oily barley sugar, Sweet Peat, Smoke, Sea Salt, Seaweed, Menthol, Vanilla, Medicinal, Iodine.
With water the seaweed and brine really come through. Oil, smoke sea salt, vanilla. Experiment with this one - it takes water well. Keep adding until you find that exact flavor you want.
Finish – Long, Sweet Peat, Smoke, Vanilla, Barley Sugar and fire pit ash
Surprisingly drinkable neat. Lovely peat and barley sugars. A ton of sweet peat, ash and vanilla and smoke. Water helps a lot. This is an excellent CS version of an already good whisky. I would recommend this as a weekend whisky...meaning that this stuff will be on your breath well into the the next day. When the wife can smell it from across the room you know it’s going to be a good Laphroaig night!
Overall Grade: A
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