Time to end the week with another Indie bottling by Signatory sold exclusively on the Whisky Exchange : and this time a sherried Laphroaig. Sherried Laphs are really good fun, and I doubt someone will be able to say they ever had a really bad sherry cask Laphroaig. At least for me Sherry and Laphraoig do work well together almost always: the wood smoke and medicinal notes integrate nicely with the sweet sherry , and if there’s a safe bet, let it be this. Of course, some casks are better than others, some shine while others are highly approachable and very drinkable. Let’s see under which category this bottling falls.
The liquid was distilled on the 22nd of September 1998 and bottled on the 6th of February 2015 , making it 16 year old. Aged in a Refill Sherry Butt # 700389, bottled without coloring at 59.9 % abv, yielding 585 bottles.
Laphroaig 1998 / 16yo / Signatory cask #700389 , 59.9% abv , £120 
nose :Deep sherry and quite a lot of pepper and alcohol burn add well as earth smoky bacon and some BBQ snacks (Israelis :Think – Bisli grill). Prune juice. Sweet and minty .
Palate: Boom. An explosion of sweet spicy chilly. Cracked peppercorns. Sweet dried fruit compote. Tons of wood smoke. Peat and cured meat. Getting sweeter and bitter with time as the initial burn subsides. Delicious sherry influenced peat and BBQ meat. Leather. Prune juice
Finish : Burnt sugar. Earth. Sweet sherry. Prunes and smoke. Double espresso too.
Bottom line:
This is a very tasty dram, as expected, the sherry and peated Laphroaig do work together, and this makes for a very enjoyable dram. However, I do feel this dram is very good , but not excellent. It does not bring anything new to the table, and I’ve had other similar whiskies were quite similar, but did not leave an impression. There’s also the question of Pricing, in this case 1 6 year old whisky at 120 quid is not cheap at all. The Clynelish I reviewed yesterday was a tad better, and cost 40 quid less. At 120 VFM is not very high, especially when there are quite a few Sherried Laph. bottling out there at lower prices, offering the same (or quite the same) quality. I guess this one is for die hard Laphroaig fans, that have the pennies to spare.
Score: 87/100
Available at The Whisky Exchange
Official sample provided by TWE
Hi there Gal!
May I ask which are the similar whiskies that you’ve had that beat this in terms of VfM?
sure. Van wees have some..
How about a Laphroaig 18
the 18 laph is very good, but it’s not cask strength, not sherry cask. a whole different animal…
much more “refined”. not as fierce as this one.
How would this stack up against…say… PC11?
vs the PC11? i think the PC11 is fiercer and spicier, dryer too, with more cinnamon and pepper, as it’s not a sherry cask, you get the basic ex bourbon laddie profile with the lactic notes and the whole thing.
depends on the mood, i’d go for pc11 when i wanted PURE peat and this one when i wanted something peaty yet sweeter.
both are crackers.