Tastes

Old, Dark, brooding and monstrously peaty. Lore is everything a Laphroaig should be. Its got such massive presence both in the nose and on the tongue if you're doing a tasting make sure this one is last. It tastes of beach fires, tar, and of wonderfully ancient wood. It has this ancient oakiness to it that is heavy and loud without being overdone as certain "overoaked" whiskeys can get. Its certainly pricy but for a special occasion I love a glass of this over a good book and a cigar.

This thing hits way above its weight class. Mellow Corn is a pure and simple corn whiskey that offers amazing bang for buck. Its sweet, warm, and has hints of popcorn. Corn whiskeys are few and far between and this is a widely available and accessible entry point into them. Worth every dollar you pay and more. If they started offering a slightly older version it would sell like hotcakes.

So everything in the branding around this whiskey is about the fact its got the highest peat of anything available. And while that may be true scientifically, frankly its not the smokiest thing I've ever had. If you're like me and would love to know what licking an ashtray tastes like, you should explore the standard ranges of Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Longrow, and Balcones Brimstone, to my palette all of those hit harder in terms of smoke. Now this is still an extremely smoky spirit and a fantastic one at that but with the hefty price tag if what you're looking for is "the maximum smoke experience" you may be disappointed. Still, this is quite the beast. Weaving together flavors of old and new wood beautifully with the smoke, citrus, the ghost of past bourbons, cigars with Connecticut wrappers and a note I can describe only as rice pudding. Its complicated, sophisticated and has an amazingly long tail.

Smoky but not like you’re used to. It has little in common with its peaty Scottish cousins from Islay but if you like them this is an interesting change. Tastes like a barbecue. It's rich, tangy, and full of smoke. Oily mouth feel, full of character and unique. Has a notes of garlic and motor oil that are unlike anything I've found in anywhere else in whiskey. Under that there are touches of cinnamon, molasses, black pepper and red pepper. If you like barbecue and unusual whiskeys give this a try.

Distinctive, unpretentious, kicks like a mule. Its punchy character makes it wonderful straight. Subtler notes of caramel and vanilla can be found but are swallowed up largely by its initial attack of black pepper and wood. Shockingly its very good warmed by a hot sun while cooking outdoors in the summer, maybe stirred with an unwashed hand after handling charcoal. Wild Turkey isn’t my favorite bourbon but when I want Wild Turkey there are no substitutes.

Not your typical bourbon, has a lot more presence than its cousin four roses. Not sweet in the slightest, the rye content adds a lot. Definitely spicy. Plenty of better options at this price point but also plenty of worse ones. Pretty average overall, but the place bulleit really shines is in cocktails, truly a thing of beauty in a mint Julep.

An excellent budget friendly wheated. Very little ethanol taste, but maintains a strong wheat presence. Nicely balanced, really fun neat, gets lost easily in cocktail.

Not a lot of cheap blends are as good as this. Consisent year to year, full, sweet, just a hint of smoke. Not watery like most similar blends are. Really great bang for buck. Reccomend for making Penicillin cocktails. If you’re in America and can’t find peaty scotch on a budget my best advice is to buy a $30 smoke gun on amazon and smoke a glass of this. That won’t make it into Lagavulin but it will get much closer than you'd expect.

Imagine walking through a humid swamp all day wearing a tuxedo. By the time the sun sets your sweat soaked body stumbles out of the tree line and you’re at the shore. You collect a bunch of driftwood and find a can of old gasoline and use it to make a fire and burn your suit. Imagine once the fire is long gone scraping up all the ashes putting them into a cup and mixing it with seawater. That’s what Laphroaig Quarter Cask tastes like.