I've had this bottle open for 4 months, and finally decided to finish it and write the review. It's not that I dislike it and don't want to tarnish my oft-stated love of Laphroaig. It's not that I love it and was waiting until I'd built a vocabulary adequate for expressing such greatness. In truth, it's because I didn't really know what to think of it, nor how to express what I was tasting. The nose is so hot that I get alcohol and smoke, and nothing else. No amount of time changes this, and it doesn't evolve for me in any direction. The palate also opens hot, but the gritty dryness goes really well with the overwhelming peat smoke, as if you're literally chewing charcoal (or eating the incredibly over burned skin of a natural-casing hotdog that you left in the fire for way too long). it's enjoyable to me, but it's also very one-note, which is very un-Laphroaig. After many small sips, and much concentration, I can get bits of iodine and seaweed, and the slightest hint of brine, before it closes out with more heat, grit and smoke. Water makes it slightly less aggressive, but doesn't really change the nose or palate. I don't hate on the NAS market because if a whisky tastes good, it doesn't matter how old it is. That being said, this isn't as good as it could (should?) be, and would have been better served with a few more years in the barrel. I'll take the standard 10 CS over this any day.