I’m going to eat my words in this review. Sort of. Last week, I wrote up Larceny Barrel Proof C922. In that review, I made light of batch variation. I wasn’t saying it doesn’t exist. I was saying that, when it comes to Elijah Craig Barrel Proof or Larceny Barrel Proof, I think we may make too much of it. With both, you’re getting a similar flavor profile from batch to batch, similar enough that, while you may prefer one batch to another, it’s not such a wide variation that you should steer clear of one batch entirely and kill yourself driving to the store to pick up another. In short, it exists, but it’s overhyped, in my opinion. And to an extent, I’m not necessarily going back on that opinion when it comes to those two bourbons. Last year, I had batch 015 of Laphroaig 10 Year Cask Strength, my first Laphroaig CS. And I think I maybe made myself like it more than I actually did. If I’m being honest, it was a bit disappointing but, given my love of Laphroaig, I didn’t want it to be bad, so I made myself like it more than I did. Water helped it. An ice cube helped it, but on its own, the nose was redolent of ozone, a lightning strike, fried electronics, sort of like when the train set underneath your Christmas tree shorted out when you were a kid. The palate was, at times, rather charred to the point of being ashy. There were moments, while drinking it, that it reminded me of licking the bottom of an astray at a dive bar around closing time. The finish was long, but when the aroma is a lightning strike and the palate is a stale cigar, do you really want to prolong it? I mean, it was interesting. I’ve never had ozone on the nose. I’ve never had that much char on the palate. And since water and an ice cube could salvage it, I muddled through. It was….an experience. But what I wanted from a Laphroaig 10 Year Cask Strength was everything I love about Laphroaig AMPLIFIED! Cut to this year’s Cask Strength, Batch 016. At least I think it’s this year’s. Last year’s batch was bottled December 21, but didn’t reach my region until December 22. Batch 016 states that it was bottled December 22, but hasn’t reached my region until December 23. So I’m assuming that they’re bottling Batch 017 now and it will show up here next December. See how I excel in pattern recognition? In any case, Batch 016 brought with it some great relief. I was worried all batches of Laphroaig Cask Strength would be like 015 and it was just a taste I hadn’t acquired yet. Sort of like the first time you have an Islay and it’s overwhelmingly….well, Islay. But that’s not the case at all. Batch 016 is what I wanted: It is everything I love about the regular 10 AMPLIFIED! The nose has that delightful (if you enjoy Islay) combination of Laphroaig’s signature iodine, sea salt, peat and vanilla, that lovely bouquet that in the 10 Year, at 86 proof, is a bit muted comes out in full force here. The more you nose it the more the vanilla becomes a bit of caramel that’s more milk chocolate caramel than dark chocolate. The palate is similar in that you get strong sea salt with white pepper, a trace of the band aid and, at the beginning of the finish, just a hint of char (I tell you I don’t dislike char, it’s just that, when that’s all there is, you long for something more, and you certainly aren’t looking for a stale cigar, are you?). When my local Wine and Spirits released this, I got to the store that evening. It was a Sunday, and I was hoping they weren’t sold out. The website listed 6 bottles in stock, and when I got to the Laphroaig section, there were no Cask Strength on the shelves! Aye me, were they sold out? I went to ask the clerk and it turns out, they were in the back, in the box, they’d just come off the truck the day before and they hadn’t a chance to put it out. “How many do you want?” the guy asked. “Just the one,” I said. I was thinking of last year’s. I didn’t want to get stuck with two bottles if that was the batch quality. Turns out batch variation can be extreme. I’m not used to it with the bourbons that release three batches a year and where I haven’t had to wait between bottles. Here, it’s real. It’s very real. And maybe I shouldn’t have told him I’d take two. But hey, I also have this year’s Cairdeas to trial soon. So it’s not like I’m out of Laphroaig. And I just finished up a bottle of Lore. My budget is limited. But this one has me interested to see what they’ll have to offer in December 2024. I hope it’s more like Batch 016 than Batch 015. But I’m prepared for the possibility that it could be something entirely different from both. Also, they haven't jacked up the price since last year, and I, for one, really appreciate that given recent whisky inflation.