Laphroaig has never exactly played it straight, so teaming up with Willem Dafoe and asking people to describe its new whisky – Willem by Willem – however they fancy feels pretty on brand.
It’s a 14-year-old single malt finished in oloroso sherry casks, bottled at 53.7% ABV, and launched with a simple idea. Forget rigid tasting notes. Tell us what you taste, however you want.
Poem, sketch, short film. Go wild.
Meet Laphroaig’s new whisky
Willem by Willem
Most whisky collaborations lean heavily on process. Cask types, fermentation times, warehouse locations. This was different.
Laphroaig senior whisky maker Sarah Dowling travelled to Rome (where Dafoe resides and has an alpaca farm, that later detail will gain more context when you watch the video) with a set of samples and let the legendary actor run wild. The whisky that eventually made the cut was picked because it made his curiosity twitch. His words, not mine.
Dafoe landed on a spirit that became Willem by Willem, one that keeps that core DNA intact. You know – big peat, iodine, salt, the whole Islay thing – but layers in a richer, darker sweetness from the oloroso finish. Dowling tells us that his responses ranged from descriptive flavour notes, to how the whisky was making his face react.
Whisky and opportunity
Strip away the campaign gloss and you’ve got a solid bit of whisky. I tried it last night and it’s delicious. At the launch event in East London, we were asked to write down our impressions (not necessarily tasting notes, more abstract than that) on the table cloth. Later, we were asked to write one feeling on a wall inside White Rabbit, The Arches. What would our mother’s say?
The first thing I wrote was FRAZZLES. That sums it up really. I also scrawled “WETHER’S ORIGINALS”, “CHILLI NUTS”, “OYSTER + TOBASCO”, “DATES”, “ESPRESSO”, “MELTED VANILLA CANDLE”, “MARMALADE ON BURNT TOAST” and “GUITAR STRINGS”. It was all honest first reactions to what I was sensing and the process was fun. It breaks the ice with fellow drinkers who are intruigued by where each other’s minds go and reminds you that there isn’t just one uniform way to interpret whisky.
As an extension of this, Laphroaig asking people to respond to the new release creatively. Submit your take, however you like, and the best one gets a shot at appearing alongside Dafoe in a future short film. It’s part competition, part experiment in how people actually experience flavour when you remove the usual guardrails.
Willem Dafoe, an alpaca named honey and the barley man. Sure, why not?
The Barley Dafoe
Laphroaig and Willem Dafoe also took their collab to Mayfair pub, The Barley Mow. It was temporarily renamed The Barley Dafoe, which was also the name of a signature cocktail made for the occasion.
Mixologist Meaghan Dorman is the creator, and Laphroaig tells us she was inspired by the wild ruggedness of Islay and the sunny luxury of Italy. We’ll leave you with the full recipe so that you can make it at home while you wait for the whisky to launch.
Which will be soon. I’ll update this blog when Willem by Willem arrives. In the meantime, a pack of Frazzles will tide you over.
Ingredients
45ml Laphroaig 10 Year Old
30ml pressed pineapple juice
15ml fresh lemon juice
10ml cinnamon syrup
5ml Amaro Ciociaro
Method
Fill a shaker with ice and add ingredients
Shake vigorously
Double strain into a coupette glass
Top with prosecco (optional)
