Laphroaig The 1815 Legacy Edition

I had this travel retail exclusive Laphroaig: the 1815 Legacy Edition sold to me by my friend @PBMichiganWolverine a bit of a discount, as he is looking to offload some of his 500 bottle collection. This bottle retails for $85+ and isn’t available here in the USA (to my knowledge, at least). This was a beautiful, antique gold in the tasting glass and it produced tiny, watery beads around the rim when you give it a twirl. It’s very oily and took quite some time before a few, sparse legs formed. The nose was intensely and richly smoky at first. A heavy hit of menthol and mint seeps through after some time, along with some light berries and fresh cut oak. There’s an earthy undertone that permeates the entire nosing experience. Not a bad intro... The palate is where it kind of went off the rails. The rich smoke and menthol on the nose lead to an impression of a dirty ashtray flavor on the tongue. It was pretty intense. If you let that note subside, which became increasingly tougher with each sip, you were introduced to an earthy mushroom flavor, with black pepper and damp oak. It really didn’t mingle well either. It left me licking and smacking my lips unconsciously as if I was trying to speed up the clearing of my palate. The finish is medium length, smoky again with some lingering pepper burn. The ABV heat is absent, but I think I was still tasting the ashtray note so I seemed to quickly fumble for my glass of water to rush the experience away. All this said, I finished the entire bottle and never considered it a drain pour, but I don’t think I’d seek another bottle (or pour) of this one. @Generously_Paul asked me if it was worse than the Select- and my initial response is “Yes”. I wasn’t as offended by the Select as most people seem to be, though. But, I can confidently say that this is the worst Laphroaig I’ve had to date. It needs some serious rich smoke on the palate to save it and mask that dirty ashtray note. At close to $100 it’s a hard pass. Look elsewhere, my friends. 2-2.5 stars. Cheers.

I was quite excited to try this one. Would it rival the Lore? Short answer no...nowhere near the same league. I had CB King St which I enjoyed and thought it would be a lead in to the piece de resistance. Wrong. I should have looked at distiller with a 3.6 average. I'm with PBM and Ric M. It's looks the goods and initially you think it will deliver but the initial taste leads to nothing like the explosion you get with the Lore; no great aftertaste, in fact it's a slightly weird one. It's muted, dumbed down made for Duty Free. I note PBM/Ric M noted quarter cask influence. I have yet to have a good quarter cask anything. Now it's not terrible but at $100USD it should be great and it isn't. 3.5.

The nose is light campfire smoke but underneath there are scents of pitted fruits and subtle red apples. The palate is oily with oak and white pepper. It finishes strongly with dry oak, peat, smoke and a deep warmth.