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.
My own curiousity, and some of the glowing reviews here led me to buy a bottle of this. Thankfully, it was not expensive. As mentioned, the peat here is massive. It can be overwhelming, and during some pours I almost find the nose to be sickeningly offensive. I might take some flack for this review, but I just wanted to balance out all of the positivity.
GOD bless the SCOTS for making such a beautiful peaty dram from Islay!!!!
QC is my personal favorite. That being said, be aware that this is not your average 18yr something light and sweet scotch. It's a scotch «for man». Strong, mouthful, it tries to brawl with your taste buds. Sip it, survive the burning, and then enjoy a trip to wonderland where smoke, peat and coal alternate one after the other. Swallow it and you'll discover an unpredicted and addictive orange zest at the very end. Beats me.
complex,tasteful,heavy bodied whiskey a true delight , although i wouldn't give it to a novice ... if you don't like it, wait a while, give it time.. it will grow on you.
I was excited when I bought but I quickly became disappointed. I like peaty scotches but not this one. I agree with the comment of it tasting like "it was filtered through dirty socks worn for a week." It nauseated me the first time I tasted it. It felt off balance. Nose was fine though. I prefer their other years. I think I might commit whisky sacrilege and make Penicillins with it or even a Whiskey sour :-O
