Last day of the year 2018. I am not going to make a fuss and start all those boring summaries, about my top 5, my top 3 whiskies this year etc. This year was awesome in any way whisky wise. I hosted a lot of whisky events, I’ve bottled a single cask (with friends) , two more M&H casks of ours are aging at the distillery. We’ve lead a group of whisky lovers on a trip to Islay, this November, It was a great year.
Speaking of Islay, here’s an example of a young, CS Laphraoig, bottled by Morrison & Mckay for their ‘Carn Mor’ line, exclusively for The Whisky Barrel, who have had some excellent whiskies bottled for them
this year (check some out here ). Young, peaty and brilliant. Laphraoig as it should be.
Actually it’s labeled as ‘Williamson’ and not Laphraoig, but it’s quite known that Williamson (after Bessy, former distillery owner) is used when Laphraoig does not wish to feature its brand name on some Indie bottlings.
Laphroaig 8 yo 2010 TWB Exclusive , 63.4% , £66
Nose: Classic Laphraoig, with ash, soot, quite medicinal with iodine, tar, and spent bandages, nice lemony ash too, with some lemon peel on top of the ashtray notes, Pepper , vanilla sweetness underneath it all. Classic ex-bourbon Cask Strength Laphraoig. Can’t go wrong with that, can you? I can smell the rocky beach, the sea spray, and envision this lovely distillery. Lovely.
Palate: Salty and big, with tons of peat, ash and soot, and then getting sweeter, with the vanilla and more salty fudge. Sweet smoke, banana peel , tar and mocha.
Finish : salty caramel, espresso and wood, tarry and smoky. very long.
Conclusion: Very good stuff! you’re getting exactly what you’re expecrting here. Peat, ash, sweet, salty, tarry, medicinal stuff. Bingo. Not the most complex dram in the world, but when you’re in need for a comforting winter smoky dram – reach out. Lovely.
Score: 86/100
Still available at The Whisky Barrel Online Shop .
try it with a small cut; becomes like aged wood; two in one; great bottle