Laphroaig 10 yo Cask Strength (batch 001)

Laphroaig 10 year old cask strength has been a favourite of many peat heads. As of February 2009, Laphroaig started mentioning a batch number on the bottles. The first batch has been around for a while now, but still it’s not widely available so I guess batch #002 will not be released soon.


Laphroaig 10yo CS Batch 001 Laphroaig 10 yo Cask Strength (57,8%, OB 2009, Batch #001)

Nose: immediately smokey and medicinal. Dry ashes and tar. Lots of phenols. There’s certainly less fruit than the former 10 Year Old CS. I do get some sweet peach but the whole is too smokey to make it stand out. Charcoal. Quite a lot of rubber / tires as well and hints of pencil shavings.

Mouth: peppery peat smoke, starting sweet but getting quite dry after a few moments with a remarkable wood influence. Hints of salty liquorice and seaweed. Still no obvious fruit, although there is some apple skin to be found.

Finish: again smokey, quite dry and salty. Long aftertaste.

Laphroaig 10 years old CS confirms itself as a very powerful dram although a bit more mono-dimensional than previous batches. Only recommended if you’re into heavy smoke. Around € 50.

Score: 86/100


Laphroaig 10yo CS
(bottling code LG010R2K)

– relatively fruity with vanilla
– sweet peat smoke
– medicinal
– balanced smoke

Laphroaig 10yo CS
(Batch #001)

– less fruit, faint hints of vanilla
– tar, charcoal and burnt notes
– rubbery
– big emphasis on smoke


I’ll repeat the remark I’ve made for Ardbeg Corryvreckan and the recent Lagavulin 12 years old: there seems to be a general tendency towards heavier smoke and ‘burnt’ peat. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation.