58,6°
Distillery : Laphroaig - Islay
Ex-Bourbon Barrels
Original Bottling
Limited Edition
Single Malt
Bottled in 2021
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength
Peated around 43 ppm
I think this is the first year we've seen two different batches of Laphroaig's famous 10 yo Cask Strength, just 5 months apart. What's the rush? Perhaps it's the last word from the distillery's director, Mr John Campbell, before he retires? Or simply the continuation of a recipe that has been going on since 2009 and even before, in the days of Green Stripe and Red Stripe. Whatever the case, it's just in time for our Christmas shopping, and the price has gone up a little compared with usual, so inflation shouldn't become systematic.
Let's Taste It :
Nails. We're chewing on scrap metal, in the middle of car wrecks. And now the peat is rising. It's like a tidal wave sweeping us away. And instead of drowning, we find ourselves in the cool, on the beach, lulled by a gentle sea breeze. Dried fruits, prunes, apricots, bananas. Filthy and charred peat. Soot, motor oil, gas oil. Shards of rusty metal. Saline fillet. Light medicinal touch. Initially very saline on the palate, then fruity, juicy pear, finally the spices rise, pepper, nutmeg and ginger. Ether, medicinal solution. Quite a long finish, still very medicinal, earthy, coaly, bandages, mercurochrome, chlorine, disinfectant. At the end it turns into salt crystals, sea water, enamel, damp sand. Shaving foam.
In Short,
What a pleasure to get back to basics. It's been too long since I was seduced by the recent Sherry bottlings, I'd forgotten what it was like to have a Laphie aged in a good old bourbon cask. And it's completely insane. Dirty, peaty, iodised, medicinal as hell. I'm pleased to see that Laphroaig has lost none of its radical brutality, combining flavours that would be horrible anywhere else. Let's hope it lasts a long time. In the meantime, let's take advantage of the fact that this bottling is not yet totally unaffordable to get one or more copies without delay.
Score : 89
To Be Listened While Sipping :
The Legendary Pink Dots - City of Needles
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