Jose-Massu-Espinel
Laphroaig "Excalibur", 15yo Hand Filled by José Massú
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
July 29, 2022 (edited July 30, 2022)
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.
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@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington 😀😀
@angstrom thanks!
@cascode 😀👍
@PBMichiganWolverine nooo i am just writing the reviews, i have my notes but i drank 80+ whiskies in Scotland, and i am still a long way to go to be up to date
@Ctrexman hahahahaha lovely comment
Oh yeah well I picked up a bag of pistachios from the dollar store on the way home........great adventure you are on my friend
Nice Jose!!!! Planning my first whisky tour for next year
You still in Islay???! Or did you just move there from Ecuador ? Either way…lucky you. I was barely able to sneak in 10 min at a rum tasting in Kauai with the family on a recent trip.
Love it!
Epic!!
@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington hahaha thabks my friend
@PBMichiganWolverine hahhhhhahhaa thanks my friend
@Jose-Massu-Espinel single best picture on this site. I wish they had audio…you could’ve screamed “ FREEDOM!!!” in a very Beaveheart-esque way
I came for the whiskey review, I stayed for the photo of the man wielding a sword