Laphroaig "Excalibur", 15yo Hand Filled by José Massú

There is nothing more satisfying than visiting an epic distillery, draw a special dram from a cask, use the valinch (whisky thief) as a sword to make people laugh, and take a good picture. I did that in Laphroaig. The valinch was actually shaped as a sword, and i used it to draw a 15yo ex bourbon and manzanilla cask matured single malt, at 53.3%abv. I call this, my own filled bottle,  "Laphroaig Excalibur". On the nose, it quite beautiful. Christmas cake, candied fruits. Chocolate dry cake, almonds and lemongrass. Complexity is the name of the game here. Bbq sauce, fruitcake, coffee beans. On the palate, very influenced by the manzanilla sherry. Christmas cake, vanilla cake, candied fruits, candied beans and sherry. Aftertaste is where the medicinal Laphroaig peat appeared. It smells like a pair of cotton socks; medicinal, cotton and ginger. It has this note of a fresh can of tennis balls that makes it "very Laphroaigish" Overall, if you ever visit Laphroaig, you have to bottle your own whisky. It is quite an unique experience, from one of Scotland's craziest single malts. This is a fantastic whisky that made me realize how amazing this very peaty and medicinal malt can be when matured in sherry casks. Incredibly interesting dram, my score for it is a 93 over 100.