Laphroaig 25 Year Cask Strength (2013 Edition)

Nose: strong butterscotch, fresh fruit on the nose. Really fresh and strong aroma. Not at all what I expected. I expect a 25 year to be rich and complex, but not fresh. Taste: mango, pineapple, coconut - tropical fruit. Not what I was expecting at all. As it sat in my mouth, the flavors kept evolving. It changed into stone fruit, then a little bit of salinity. Sweetness. Chocolate The mouth feel was perfect, one of the best I've had in a whiskey. Truly fantastic. Finish: smooth, long, sweet, asking for more. This is up there with the pappy Van Winkle 20 year and the yamazaki 18 for the best whiskey I've ever had.

Perfect

48.9% abv cask strength (2017 release) Non chill-filtered Color likely added Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b44X2LnR9GY&t Nose: Complex: sweetness is balanced with a nice but not overpowering medicinal, salty peat smoke. But just underneath lies a meaty, bbq note, rich Carmel apple; orange and lemon citrus; vanilla and toffee; sea shell. Taste: medium body, oily and mouth coating. On the arrival its sweet vanilla and fresh fruit, but as it develops you get apple, chocolate and a slight floral note. The ride them continues with salted caramel and almond. Finish: seemingly endless. The pest smoke lingers in the background as brine, vanilla, and caramel pop in and out. Slight ginger bread also comes to the party, bringing along buttery cashew. Value: $400-500 USD. Hard to say this is “worth it” despite how good the dram is. Final thoughts: what can one say about a Laphroaig that’s at least 25 years old? Literally every time you nose and taste this you get something new. This is a unicorn single malt, pure and simple. Because of the price I can’t say you should stop what you’re doing and buy a bottle immediately, but should fortune’s wheel spin your way or a generous friend enter your life offering a sample, this is a cannnot miss dram. Score: 4.5/5 (highly recommend buying a bottle.) Malt musing: “It is true that whisky improves with age. The older I get, the more I like it.” - Ronnie Corbett Link to video review: https://youtu.be/b44X2LnR9GY

This starts out with the standard Laphroaig-peat nose (the hospital style of peat) but that weakens quickly. In its wake is an odd but more enticing aroma (dried cranberry was suggested and it is something like that). A bit sweeter than the standard, this was a decent older Islay.

Smooth smoky goodness that goes for days

2 oz pour. Sample rating: +7 (for comparison, I gave this score to the similarly priced whistlepig boss hog V) The price of a full bottle is around 450-500 USD. Given the price, 3.5 / 5 stars. This is the cheapest laphroaig that comes in a wooden box. I have the 32 year, but haven’t tried it yet. The 32 looks heavily sherried. This one looks pretty pale and I get no sherry influence. The dominant notes are lemon, flowers, and ash. Oily and waxy. I am reminded of seeing anti-smoking ads when I was a kid comparing kissing a smoker to licking an ashtray and then kissing a smoker, and finding it somewhat more pleasant. Lipstick and cigarettes. Clearly the long finish will be for those who don’t mind dirty Islay drams. There’s no fresh tobacco or cigars here, just citrus and cigarette ash whenever you burp. I actually really liked this dram, but for the money, would rather pick up a green tube laphroaig 18, which is better priced at 250-300 USD on secondary market.

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