It’s the bicentenary year for Laphroaig – no mean feat for a little distillery on the coast of Islay to churn out the world’s most “richly flavoured” whisky for 200 years! And that means some special events and ambassadorial work for the distillery team as they mark the occasion.
It was a treat for all Australians then, when the good folks at Beam Suntory elected to send John Campbell, Laphroaig’s Manager, to our shores for a promotional tour. On a two week trip that saw him involved with endless tastings, appearances, interviews and events – including the epic “The Great Whisky Rumble” (read all about that one here), John spent his last night of the trip in Sydney to conduct an intimate Laphroaig tasting at Grain, one of the city’s newest whisky bars. It was a ticketed event, and yours truly wasted no time in shelling out $85.79 to book a seat.
Attendees were served a John Collins on arrival (a play on a Tom Collins) and mingled socially before Dan Woolley, National Brand Ambassador for Laphroaig, called the room to order and got things underway. You’re left under no illusion as to Dan’s passion for the brand, and it was a good pairing with John Campbell who, whilst reserved and understated in his delivery, can (and will) answer any question on the distillery and its bottlings.
John started at the distillery as a warehouseman in 1994 and – in his words – kept putting his hand up for the next role up the ladder until they eventually made him the manager in 2006. The distillery has recently styled him with the title of Master Distiller, which – if I’m honest – doesn’t sit right in the context of the name, and one suspects he’s not overly fussed about it either. I’ve met with and know on pretty good terms seven of the eight current distillery managers on Islay, and I don’t think too many of them would call themselves or their role a “distiller”, much less a Master of it. But I digress…
Traditionally, Laphroaig has been a “love it or hate it” whisky, and the distillery’s marketing plays on that now more than ever before. The #OpinionsWelcome campaign is one such example. However, whilst there’s no doubt that Laphroaig’s style and flavour profile will never be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s pretty evident that they are – either by design or by natural evolution – attempting to make their whiskies more approachable and with wider appeal. The Laphroaig Select is one such example (more on that shortly), but – as many of us “old timers” reflected amongst each other during the night – the Laphroaig 10yo we’re drinking today is significantly less tarry & peaty than what was doing the rounds 15-20 years ago.
What I liked about this tasting event was that it was a tasting. No slide shows, no marketing speeches or PR spin, no history stories, not even any bells and whistles – just a chance to sit down with eight Laphroaig whiskies and to taste them at a leisurely pace, whilst the distillery’s manager told us a little bit about each one. In an intimate and small setting, it was a relaxing and effective evening – perhaps even a breath of fresh air.
The tasting mat & place settings for each attendee.The whiskies tasted on the evening were, in order:
- Laphroaig Select
- Laphroaig 10yo
- Laphroaig 15yo (43%)
- Laphroaig 18yo (Non-chillfiltered, 48%)
- Laphroaig Quarter Cask
- Laphroaig Triple Wood (Non-chillfiltered, 48%)
- Laphroaig 25yo (2013 release, 45.1%)
- Laphroaig Cairdeas (2012 Origin release, 51.2%)
So, if you’re not familiar with the above portfolio, below are some interesting notes about each whisky and my observations that I recorded on the night:
Laphroaig Select Cask
(Known as Laphroaig Select around the rest of the world, but all 9,000 of the first run of “Select Cask”-labelled bottles found their way exclusively to Australia!
The Select Cask bottling is a vatting of five different cask types: European oak Pedro Ximinez, European oak Oloroso, Ex-Makers Mark 1st Fill bourbon barrels, Quarter Casks, and Virgin Oak casks.
I first tasted this whisky at the distillery last year, and this was my second time with it. The youngest whisky in the vatting is six years old. John acknowledged that this expression was designed to introduce people into Laphroaig who weren’t accustomed to the brand. It’s a stepping stone of sorts, and is lighter and less challenging than the typical Laphroaig profile. I found the nose to be quite seaweedy, and the palate was soft, but a bit thin and lacking depth. Yes, it’s a nice enough whisky in its own right, but it’s not what I want from a Laphroaig. And that’s fine – as explained, this bottling wasn’t made for consumers like me. If you’ve previously found heavily-peated whiskies a bridge too far, then perhaps this expression might be more to your liking.
Laphroaig 10yo
The distillery’s flagship expression, the 10yo accounts for 70% of all Laphroaig’s sales. Vatted from 100% first fill ex-Makers Mark barrels, the distillery evidently opted for Makers Mark many years ago because it’s a lighter wheated bourbon (i.e. no rye), and this evidently made for a more favourable maturation with Laphroaig’s spirit. Compared to the Select Cask, the 10yo was significantly more salty and delivered the tang and sweetness I associate with the brand. However, as mentioned previously – as much as I like this whisky, modern incarnations of the 10yo lack the tarry, earthiness that was so prevalent and distinctive in bottlings from the 1970’s-1990’s.
Laphroaig 15yo
This once-revered expression disappeared from the portfolio a few years ago, but was recently re-introduced, evidently due to customer demand. The original 15yo was part of the portfolio from 1996-2008, and it was truly one of the most luxurious and “full” experiences you could get from Islay during that time. The new 15yo expression is a nice drop, once again bottled from 100% first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. The nose has a more aromatic smoke, and the palate displays sweet fruits and a dark, roasted maltiness to complement the peat. But – and I know I’m not alone here – it’s not a patch on the old 15yo, in my humble opinion.
Laphroaig 18yo
Being the first non-chillfiltered whisky of the night, this immediately grabbed my palate. The nose was oily, displaying licorice and salty peat, and the palate featured some pleasant oaky bitterness and a great depth of flavour. What can’t all whiskies be non-chillfiltered like this? If only there was a whisky society that dedicated itself to bottling only non-chillfiltered whiskies. Oh, wait…
Laphroaig Quarter Cask
First launched in 2004 (and first tasted in Australia at the inaugural meeting of the now-defunct Islay Whisky Club), the Quarter Cask make a big splash when it appeared on the scene. Bottled at a higher 48%, this expression contains whiskies between 5 and 11 years old that are matured in regular first fill bourbon barrels, then transferred for seven months in a Quarter Cask. (A quarter cask is a quarter of a sherry butt, and two regular bourbon barrels can be broken down to produce three quarter casks).
This expression displays a lovely iodine note on the nose, and there are strong toffee notes on the palate, together with sweet peat. The finish is very dry and ashy (yum!) and also introduces some citrus. A cracking dram that delivers the punch you want from a Laphroaig.
Laphroaig Triple Wood
The process of making this expression starts with the regular first fill bourbon casks that are transferred into quarter casks, and then finished off in European oak ex-Oloroso hogsheads. In this particular line-up, the previous four whiskies had all been matured exclusively in ex-bourbon casks, and so the re-introduction of sherry into the flavour profile was both distinctive and delicious. The nose displayed dried currants, white pepper, and a delicious maritime sea spray. The palate had sweet barley malt, dark chocolate, and salted caramel, and the finish was silky and displayed a great length.
Laphroaig 25yo (2013 Release)
This particular 25yo release spent 18 years in ex-bourbon casks before being transferred to European oak refill sherry butts for seven years. Bottled at 45.1%, the nose displayed tropical fruits to complement the usual Laphroaig DNA. The palate was extremely complex: Peat, oak, sweet malt, spices, fruits, tar, maritime elements, and bitter dark chocolate or cocoa. A very luxurious Laphroaig.
Cairdeas 2012 “Origin”
The 2012 Cairdeas release was bottled at 51.2%. John shared a little bit of useful trivia: The last two digits of the ABV indicate the vintage date of each Cairdeas bottling. Hence, the 2012 release was bottled at 51.2%. This was a complex vatting of casks, including 19yo bourbon barrels, two 21yo sherry casks, and then some 7yo quarter casks for good measure. The nose was relatively quiet, but the palate – with the benefit of the higher ABV – was much more full-bodied, structured, and flavour-packed. Licorice allsorts was the standout flavour for me.
I found this an enjoyable and, at times, illuminating tasting. It had been a long time since I’d tasted a vertical of so many Laphroaigs in one sitting, and it was interesting to see how the current portfolio attempts to straddle a wider spectrum of flavours and offerings. I found the first three or four whiskies in the line up to be “lighter” than the richly flavoured Laphroaigs I cut my teeth on (I tasted my first Laphroaig in 2000) and I found it interesting to read elsewhere recently that Laphroaig is currently being made with a higher-peated malt (in terms of the ppm phenols) than it was in the past. Most of the Laphroaig’s I enjoy these days are those bottled by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, and perhaps I’ve just become too accustomed to the higher ABV, non-chillfiltered Laphroaigs from the SMWS? Or is it a case whereby Laphroaig’s whisky, in particular, suffers or loses something more marked when it’s chillfiltered? I wouldn’t be the first to make that observation: Jim Murray said as much back in 1997.
Kudos to Beam Suntory in appointing Dan Woolley as the national brand ambassador in Australia, and well done to all in Australia who facilitated John Campbell’s visit and the many events he presented during his stay.
(For some more wisdom on Laphroaig’s production, straight out of the mouth of John Campbell, you may also like to read Tim Grant’s interview with John at Peated Perfection, following the equivalent tasting John presented in Brisbane a week earlier. Click here).
Cheers,
AD
Great write-up Andrew! Also spot-on about the 10yr becoming much less tarry and heavy than it used to be. I was particularly surprised when John said the Select Cask was non-chillfiltered (at 40%) and no added colour…
I’m jealous!