Laphroaig PX Cask

Nose: The initial nosing takes you aback slightly, because it comes on strong with intensely sweet PX sherry aromas of raisins, cherries, dried peel and baking spice. Then suddenly the smoke comes forward and you're whisked away to a seashore at sunset ebb-tide on an autumn evening with seaweed, iodine, sandy strands and muddy intertidal reaches with mussels and razor shells popping. Curlews are crying in the distance while chimney smoke arabesques its way into the still air from cottages silhouetted against the sunset. As the light fades and the stars rise hints of steamed beech-wood, cedar, teak and creosote-treated oak reach out from the boats at rest in the mud. The oak pervades the senses and remains as the final impression as night falls. Palate: Echoing the nose, sherry and smoke are the first components in the delightfully semi-sweet arrival that develops into a finely balanced palate with vanilla, fruit cake, cherries, iodine, tar, toffee, liquorice, orange zest, sour peat, caramel, brine, tobacco and leather. Simmering underneath is a potpourri of rich aromatic spices including anise, allspice, cardamom and cinnamon, but it's a subtle foundation that just peeks through to say hello from time to time. What a delightfully busy palate - I feel tired just describing it - and yet it all fits together like a jigsaw. Finish: A medium-long, smoky sherry, earthy and even vegetal finish, dying out to a wisp of chewy oak. It's like the final echoes of a resounding orchestral finale. What an enjoyable, and IMHO highly under-rated, whisky that is rich, full, rounded and well integrated, with great poise. Contained within a sensuously sumptuous body like an Ingres odalisque, flirtatious and dangerously knowledgeable of her power over the beholder, this whisky is sure of itself, perfectly balanced and cohesive. Jim Murray (yes, I know - Mr Murray - get over it) describes this as "A quite beautiful whisky and unquestionably one of the great malts of the year ... in spite of itself." and I get exactly what he means. It sits right on the edge between excellent and a complete disaster. Just a tiny bit more PX presence and this would be a big, flaccid mess reeking of fortified wine and with the distillate completely smothered. Mercifully they managed to avoid that and instead it is a big luscious treat. However that said I understand why some critics have disliked it. You need to have a sweet tooth for this one, or it just won't click. I enjoyed it a great deal and now I need to book a return flight to New Zealand so I can buy a couple of bottles as TRE because that's the only way to get hold of the darn stuff! "Very Good" : 85/100 (4 stars)

I'm a big fan of Pedro ximenez casks, but somehow it just did not go very well with this. Guess if one increases the ABV and oiliness of this offering, it may just do the trick.

smoky and salty as described. lacked the body of talisker 18