Laphroaig 2005 12 Year Cask Strength (Alexander Murray & Co.)

Nose: Candy sweetness, creamy vanilla, malt and dried fruit and smoke. Palate: Candy sweet and a touch spirity and earthy with some dark sweets and smoke. Finish: Long -> Smoky and malty fade, touch lemony and metallic.

More smoke than the 10 year cask strength but still balanced enough to get to sweetness underneath it all. Definitely grab a bottle or dram if you see it.

👀: Very light ocher with thin legs, sparkling notes; 👃: The obvious Laphroaig notes, hits you with the band-aid smoke from the get-go and keeps on hitting, sea spray, iodine and peat smoke come at you with intensity (this is 54% ABV after all); 👅: The smoke continues on the palate and caresses the tongue all the way down, more smoke and alcohol carries itself up to the nasal areas and stays there, the smoke totally covers up the Scotch, beautiful yet smoky; 🏁: Long, lingering finish where you finally are able to taste the actual Scotch which was masked within a shroud, be careful of this one because though it's lingering, it doesn't taste very strong but remember it's 54% ABV.

I picked up this bottle from K&L Wines in San Francisco in spring 2019, after spending a few days hiking Yosemite with my mom (such a beautiful park, and such a lovely trip). Therefore, I'll always associate it with fond memories, although I'll try to avoid having those color my views of this whisky. Guys, this is not your typical Laphroaig at all. Typical Laphroaig is an ornery black bear coming at you with paws up and the stench of a long winter's hibernation. And, to be clear, I love that earthy, funky, peaty, smoky medicine. This is not that Laphroaig. This is a mule deer at Tuolumne Meadows at the early cusp of spring, sprightly and delicate. To drop the metaphors and provide some concrete tasting notes, the nose here is as sweet as treacle and whipped cream, and reminds of the first time I tried baba au rhum. It's also a bit boozy and reticent to give up more notes than that general, almost Highland-like sweetness. Peat appears when it hits the tongue with its rich and oily texture, and there must be some sherry casks in this batch because it has the citrus and tart candies that I associate with sherry-casked Islay whisky. The finish is fruit -- pears, grapefruit -- and mellow, herbal peat. It is not right in my wheelhouse but this is exactly why we buy independent bottles: to see a completely different facet of a distillery that we think we know, and know we love.