Released in 2004, this bottling was aged for around five years before being finished in a quarter cask for several months, the size of the cask is quite small, thus does not require such a long maturation. This remains a truly great achievement from Laphroaig.
Oily and buttery nose, with toffee, nuttiness, hickory, bicarbonate of soda, rum and raisin ice cream and zest.
Big rush of sweetness, in fact it’s an explosion of sweetness, with fiery chilli heat, TCP, sweet cereals and a touch of cola syrup.
Medium-length, but becomes fruity, with custard and cigar smoke.
Like licking sea spray and angel’s tears from your lips outside a burning peat store as the TCP trickles down from your head wound...but in a good way.
One of the finest from Islay. Taste is rich, smoke is absolutely overwhelming. However an aftertaste lingers and overwhelms not entirely in a good way.
Seriously smokey with intense peat and spicy notes. Sherried Scotch lovers stay away.
It's very easy to bash all non age statement whiskeys with the same shitty stick and dismiss them as nothing more than spin and marketing , but it's short sighted and missing out . Some are great and some are garbage , but the exact same is true of all whisky age statement or not. Perhaps this isn't as nuanced as a Lagavulin 16. But is has bags of character in spinal tap terms it's Islay turned up to 11. Sure it's a little like a bloody bandage that's been left in the fire but in a most enjoyable way. It's a great one to taste with friends because it starts conversations and brings people together.
You either love this or you don't ...no in-betweens and no disambiguation here. This dram bolsters the senses with complex flavors. A fine balance of classic intrinsic notes of Islay peat and the sweet and savory citrus on the palate. Truly a memorable experience in Scotch drinking for some... and a nightmare for others. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. I'll have it!!! ;)
