Category Archives: Laphroaig
Laphroaig Triple Wood NAS
Whisky: Laphroaig Triple Wood NAS, 48% ABV, 75cl
R700 ≈ £63
This is an exclusive travel retail expression apart from a few several hundred bottles released on the Laphroaig website. Having read so much about it online recently, I grabbed the chance to call this 1L beauty my own. This has been matured in ex-Bourbon barrels, traditional 19th century quarter casks and then European oak Olorroso butts.
Nose: A delicious combination of tropical fruit and toffee sweetness along with smoke, all rich and intense. The sweetness seems to have tamed the usual Laphroaig iodine smoke somewhat.
Taste: The usual lovely peat smoke saturates the mouth, although still a bit more tamed. Soft and succulent mouth feel but fiesty if mishandled. The fruit sweetness weaves throughout. Intense stuff.
Finish: Well balanced. Smooth and sultry. A spatter of dark cocoa chocolate.
My Score: 85/100
This is essentially a Laphroaig Quarter Cask with some time finished in ex-sherry casks, and you can tell from the overall profile of the whisky. The sherry influence has added a rich fruitiness that has integrated well with the peat smoke. Still your medicinal Laphroaig, but some die hard fans may not love it as much.
Laphroaig 10yo
Whisky: Laphroaig 10, 40% ABV, 75cl
R430 ≈ £37.
Time for some more peat. Laphroaig is the most medicinal of malts, and with its strong peated house-style comes a strong reputation and high regard by peat lovers world over.
Nose: Smoke from a fire on the beach, in the wind! This little beauty is equal parts fresh clean smoke and salty sea air, yet it still manages to be soft and delicate.
Taste: Oily and rich. Full of smoke, seaweed, and sweet cough syrup. Lacks a little depth, but what it does, it does well.
Finish: Sweetness disappears fast. Nice and drying, but fairly short lived.
My Score: 83/100
Another Islay gem. For an entry range peated Scotch this is a wonderful dram. If you haven’t tried it before and aren’t too accustomed to peat, I would recommend trying it at a bar before you buy a bottle. As so many have said before me: “you either love it, or you hate it.”
Scores: MJ = 86/100, JM 09 = 91/100, MM = 85/100
