Wow, what a smooth and delicate mouth entry this has for such a gnarly tasting brand. I remember My dad giving me laphroaig years ago (back in my jack n’ coke days) and upon tasting it I immediately looked at him like “are you fucking maaaad?! Being nearly 40 now I have recently learned how to appreciate a heavily peated scotch - the trick for me (if you might want to know) was PATIENCE- and trying a higher end batch; where the taste of a natural earthy smoke truly enhances the flavor - not a light scotch that seems as if it was incidentally flavored with artificial smoke, disjointed and compartmentalized throughout the experience. For me; the entry point for my interests was Corryvreckan. Now back to Lore- wow, what and interesting addition to my collection - the nose was the part that perked my interest first - ... obviously .. it initially has that classic medicinal laphroaig Smokey nose - but then within 5 minutes it started morphing into red berries — it was then that I feared the taste; I feared disappointment.... having been let down by so many $100+ dollar bottles; I reluctantly ... reluctantly lifted my glass for the tasting,.. and then - wow. Upon entry to the mouth It’s one of the smoothest whiskeys I have ever tasted, then it proceeds to developed itself into to many many more flavors as it moves around inside your mouth- it finishes with just enough burn and on the back end to give you your money’s worth. If you like peated scotch - you will definitely like this. ——Now I’ll proceed to run my mouth because I can: Suntory/Beam- don’t fuck this one up- you have plenty of products to slowly diminish for profit by diluting, removing the age statements, but yet still raising the price- please keep the quality and aging just like you did on batch one- you already started stomping on the toes of faithful laphroaig customers by removing the 18yr AND the 15yr ; so what’s next? INCREASE quality? I think not- I’m sure Suntory has some fresh new hot shot execs that are interested in quickly lining their pockets while getting ⭐️⭐️⭐️gold stars on the tally board though “efficiency” by temporarily, if not permanently removing some of the timeless, natural, historical practices and ingredients that subtly enhance the flavor of whiskey- which could then only temporarily increase profit🤑💍⛳️🏦📈 - that is until they quit Suntory and move to the next firm. 🙇‍♂️ MANY Executives that control these companies pay dividends to themselves and shareholders; it requires the drug dealer mentality (just like every other corporation out there who sells liquid) - “cut it with the cheaper stuff to increase profit” - it’s done with quick, quiet conversations, subtle eyebrow raises and gesture among the top guys- they mean no harm; but in time enough personal interests and dividends paid out of old companies is funded usually by product degradation and price hikes- laphroaig has recently been guilty of both of these. Boys at laphroaig: Don’t do it - go harvest your profit by watering down Kessler, Courvoisier, Canadian club, beam rye or one of your other wackamol brands - leave laphroaig alone, and please - bring back the 18yr - you schmucks. Lore is great, but at $130+ it’s almost ethically unacceptable because it has no age statement, or official ongoing batch transparency - it’s slippery slope to buy into. Laphroaig - this is a good whiskey; don’t fuck this one up for a quick buck.