Laphroaig 10 Year Old is an iconic Islay single malt whisky, renowned for its heavily peated profile. Expect intense smoke, medicinal iodine, and a hint of seaweed. This whisky captures the bold spirit of Islay and is one of Scotland's most characterful drams. Islay's world-famous Laphroaig distillery is known for its medicinal malts, and its signature 10-year-old is no exception thanks to its full maturation in bourbon barrels, which serves to highlight that individual distillery character. This beauty has won a slew of industry awards over the decades and we love it.
Non-chill filtered for maximum flavour. A must-have for peat lovers!"
Our tasting notes feature a contribution from the longest-serving distillery manager in the brand's history, the wonderful John Campbell, who worked at Laphroaig from 1994 until 2021.
This opens on big, smoky muscular peat notes. There are spices, and liquorice, as well as a big dose of salt. This whisky has become slightly sweeter in recent years, and it appears beautifully on the nose, amidst the classic iodine/sticking plasters and cool wood smoke we love.
Seaweed-led, with a hint of vanilla ice cream and more than a whiff of notes from the first aid box (TCP, plasters etc). The oak is big, and muscles its way into the fore as you hold this whisky over your tongue. An upsurge of spices develop – cardamom/black pepper/chilli.
Big and drying, as the savoury, tarry notes build up with an iodine complexity.
The only malt from Laphroaig’s range that John Campbell recommends with water; try it, it opens up the palate massively, providing a dazzling array of additional flavours…
Like it says on the bottle, they devide opinion! This is either a love or hate dram. Imagine being hit in the face by a cloud of smoke wielding a medicine box full of brine and seaweed. It’s amazing.
Quite simply superb. Lovely taste, lovely lingering after taste, the best,
Was really disappointed on the nose if compared to lagavulin 12-16 / Ardbeg 10/Uguidal /Leidag 10. Bad bottle maybe ? The nose was really shy, I had trouble to to really find the big peat/medicinal aromas. On the palate quite smokey, at the end too. Had the impression that I was eating straight Pepper at the end. Not a good experience with that bottle.
This dram has divided opinions in forever. Either you love it or you hate it . It's complexity and delicious combination of peat and smoke with citrus notes makes this one of my favorites. I would not present this to a novice scotch drinker but rather give them a less complex, less medicinal , less savory Islay gem and pour them a sweet cherry bomb. I'll have this!
A classic malt - beyond criticism. However, I prefer Ardbeg 10-year-old, which is similar but subtly different.
