Aloha Grip is another funny anagram for Laphroaig. Earlier in 2008, they had a 9 years old bottling called Hag Rap Oil.

Aloha Grip – Laphroaig 1992 16y (58%, Daily Dram 2008, 180 btl.)

Peaty, but not overwhelming. Very round, with even less smoke and iodine on the nose than the Cairdeas. Lemon and sweet apple. Vanilla. Nice coastal notes which grow stronger if you add a drop of water. Powerful mouth. I really like the fact that there are different waves of flavour that seem to come and go: lemon at first, then getting spicier and hotter, a small peat explosion with a pinch of salt and afterwards notes of Napoleon lemon sweets (without the sour centre that is) and lemon pie with distant ashes. A parade of typical Laphroaig notes. Long, sweet finish.

Not a cheap dram (almost € 100) but a Laphroaig cask with a lot to offer. Sold out according to The Nectar, but a few stores still seem to have stock.

Score: 86/100.

Undercover n°1 – Lagavulin 14y 1994
(53,1%, Daily Dram 2008, 196 btl.)

Typical Lagavulin, big and punchy, a tad farmy, whiffs of sea air. Really smokey. An instant classic, better than other independent Lagavulin bottlings. It will cost around € 100 though, which I think is a little pricey compared to a standard 16y or the recent 1995 release for Friends of Classic Malts (both around half the price). Is this Laga twice as good?

Undercover n°2 – Talisker 24y 1984
(51,9%, Daily Dram 2008, 82 btl.)

Very fruity, with a great, peppery attack and a lingering finish. Some lemons, maybe less smokey than most official bottlings (or was this the influence of the other Undercovers which I nosed / tasted simultaneously?). Really good. I had the feeling this one deserved better conditions to taste it properly. Hopefully some other time. Again, not cheap: € 150.

Undercover n°3 – Ardbeg / Laphroaig / Bowmore 15y vatting (57,5%, Daily Dram 2008, 320 btl.)

This is a vatting of 3 Islay malts (according to new laws, we should say ‘blended malt’ now instead of ‘vatted malt’). You can easily tell that the main part is Ardbeg. Lots of peat smoke, quite dry. Some acid notes (lemon). Good balance and very powerful. A vatting which brings out the typical flavours of the ingredients. Price: around € 75.

What can I say? Quality-wise: excellent bottlings, only positive feedback and thumbs up for buying casks from distilleries which are a bit harder to find in independent bottlings. I just fear that they may be a little over-priced. Financial crisis, you know… I hope this is not a permanent evolution in the Daily Dram series.

Hag Rap Oil

Hag Rap Oil – Laphroaig 9y 1998
(56,7%, Daily Dram 2007, 450 bottles)

Nose: iodine, peat, phenols. Smoked fish. Fresh leather. More tobacco than smoke, pretty complex. If you place it next to the 10y CS, this one is much more buttery and oily, less oaky with fewer notes of lemon but more vanilla. I would say this one is more feminine. Mouth: more smoke now, more oil. Sweeter notes too. Vanilla again. Finish: drier, with a pinch of salt. Sweet smoke.

Very vivid, punchy Laphroaig. Especially the nose is wonderful. Sold out, but The Bonding Dram still seems to have some stock (€ 55).

Score: 85/100.

Ardbeg collector Geert Bero managed to find a pristine case (!) of these beauties in the States (most of them rotation 1967 actually). Some people have all the luck… Well done of course and I was happy to able to taste it.

Laphroaig 10 yo (91,4 US Proof, OB 1968, 4/5 quart, Imported by The Carlton Company)

Nose: peatheads would be disappointed. No big fireworks. Instead it evokes tobacco leaves, cigar ashes in water and unlit coal bricks. All of this mixed with a lovely almond sweetness and even buttery pastry notes. Quite rounded and definitely sherried. There’s a whole range of tiny micro-notes as well: motor oil, leather, turpentine, tea, sea air, dust… Stunningly delicate old Laphroaig. Mouth: quite punchy and briney / salty. Then it grows sweeter with tobacco again (reminds me of the pralines with Havana leaves by Dominique Persoone). Smoked tea. A little toffee maybe. Hints of lemon. Relatively peaty for such an old malt with a slight earthiness in the very end. Great combination with the silky nose. Finish: long, rather sweet and smoky with toffee and liquorice.

This shouldn’t be evaluated like modern malts. The nose is exceptional: delicate and aromatic at the same time. On the palate there’s slightly less complexity but it’s still very beautiful. A lovely piece of history. Thanks Geert!

Score: 94/100

Laphroaig 10 yo Cask strength
(55,7%, OB 2007)

Nose: lovely deep smoke with tarry notes and lots of phenol. Balanced with sweet vanilla, a bit of brown sugar and some fruity notes. Medicinal. Seaweed. A bit of lemon, burried somewhere underneath. Mouth: powerful start, very robust and quite peppery. The best ashtray ever! Becomes sweeter (toffee, caramel) with a salty edge. Finish: long and hot. Phenols again. Smoky with a hint of gasoline.

This is very very good whisky. Among the best standard bottlings on the market. This punchy classic is a must-have for every Islay enthousiast. Around € 45.

Score:

 A small note: Laphroaig announced that they will release different batches of the 10yo CS in the future. So instead of trying to reproduce the same flavour profile over and over again, they will allow some variations in the profile and the alcohol volume. It seems to become trendy to do this (Lagavulin 12yo, Springbank 1997, Aberlour A’bunadh…), and one of the reasons may be that it may convince enthousiasts to buy all the different batches and see how they compare. Edition n°1 will be bottled shortly.

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

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.

Laphroaig 10 yo Cask Strength 
(58,3%, OB 2010, batch #002)

Nose: fruitier than the 10yo CS Batch 001, right from the start, with berries and peach syrup. Also more notes of butter toffee and sweet vanilla latte. Still enough smoke to satisfy any Islay freak I guess. Earthy peat and some iodine as well. Mouth: very deep smoke which keeps growing. Quite dry with a lot of smoked bacon. Roasted coffee. Sweet liquorice that fades to big peppery notes. Nicely developing. Again more vanilla and fruit. Finish: long, smokey and medicinal – slowly drying out.

Even though the complexity is still not up to the standards of the old (no-batch) 10 year-old, I think the mixture of powerful smoke and added sweetness is still uniquely Laphroaig.

Hmm, I like the nose of batch 2 better than
batch 1, but on the palate it’s the other way around. Peatheads may prefer batch #001, but
for me #002 gets one extra point. Around € 45.

Score: 87/100

Remember that it’s only 16 or 17 years old, it spent much more time in the bottle than in the cask. It has a unique yellow-brown colour – almost none of the red hues that we find in other sherry casks.

Laphroaig 1964
(43%, Berry Bros & Rudd 1981, 75 cl)

Nose: okay, let’s take it step by step. First step: quiet, almost velvety sherry. I wouldn’t say this was an Islay whisky. Step two: it IS an Islay whisky. There’s deep tobacco, some smoke, cold ashes and precious types of wood (cedar). Step three is where it all comes together with beautiful fruits, prunes, dates, berries… Lovely mocha. Old leather, a bit of musk. Toasted bread. Subtle oak polish. Something minty and metallic. Also, the coastal elements are superb. It’s very complex and perfectly smooth. I’m especially fond of the tobacco / fruit mix. Mouth: very gentle and round, with some dates and sweet marmalade. Still a surprising amount of earthy smoke, although it turns out a bit weak and watered down. It keeps growing smokier with plain soot before turning slightly metallic and more briney, with liquorice and ashes and a cocoa edge. Finish: medium length, dry and faintly herbal / bitter. Still very ashy.

Impressive how there are so many flavours in a wonderful balance. I guess the 30 years in glass had some effect, but it’s still an excellent showcase of the qualities of old-style sherry matured Laphroaig.

Score: 95/100

Thank you for the opportunity, Régis!

Laphroaig 21 yo 1989 (56,9%, Douglas Laing Old & Rare Platinum 2010, refill sherry hogshead, 212 btl.)

Nose: the tar seems to be a little softer here, but apart from that, the nose is very similar. Big tobacco notes and cocoa. Dark fruity notes. Cigar boxes. Of course also the usual coastal notes, sweet peat and antiseptic. Some graphite. This one leaves a slightly sharper impression than the Liquid Sun bottling. A little mint maybe. Mouth: quite dry, with big peat, some walnuts and hints of olives. Pepper and lemon zest. Big smoke. Seaweed. Certainly less fruity, which makes it less unique (but perhaps more classically Laphroaig). Liquorice. A little ginger. Finish: long, dry and leafy, with salty and bitter touches.

From the nose I though this would be nearly identical to the Liquid Sun release, but on the palate it turns out less rounded and balanced, less sherried and more extreme. Not bad of course, but at this price? Around € 230 – now sold out. This year’s cask is still available but it will cost you over € 300, that’s just ridiculous. Thanks for the sample, Johannes.

Score: 88/100

Laphroaig 21 yo 1989 (53,1%, Whisky Agency 2010, Perfect Dram V 197 btl.)

Nose: warm and smokey. Big notes of vanilla cream, marzipan and candy sugar. Sweet and rounded. Some maritime notes (fish on a beach barbecue, brine). Hay. Thyme. Hints of warm candle wax. Water makes it slightly sharper with hints of lemon and mint. Really good. Mouth: thick and oily, with bold peat that’s nicely balanced with notes of yellow apples. Some salty liquorice and seaweed. Quite sweet, but water adds sharper citrus notes again. It also brings out pepper and medicinal notes (more so than on the nose). Finish: rather long. Liquorice, smoked bacon and Lapsang tea.

A very fine Laphroaig, older than we usually see from independent bottlers, and more complex. An example of the distillery house style at this age. Good availability, good price, good whisky. Around € 120.

Score: 89/100

Laphroaig 20 yo 1990
(52,8%, Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: a fragrant Laphroaig with a nice peppery side (Szechuan) and a medicinal / herbal side (menthol, antiseptic). Faint fruity notes in the background, with sweet smoke and some farmy notes / wet dogs. I’m picking up notes of green tomatoes as well. With water the farminess grows stronger while it also turns to lemons. Nice – well balanced (read: not very peaty) on the nose. Mouth: slightly kippery, then growing more medicinal for a few moments but sweeter as well, with sugared lemon juice. After that, there’s a late burst of peat with some liquorice and pepper again (chilli). Finish: long, quite rounded with sweet smoke and soft hints of green peppers in the end.

Laphroaig of this age shows a little less peat on the nose, but still displays it with full power on the palate. I like the balance of this all-rounder. Limited availability. Around € 125.

Score: 87/100

Laphroaig 20 yo 1990 (52,6%, Malts of Scotland 2011, bourbon hogshead #2229, 178 btl.)

Nose: smoky and maritime again, but more aromatic compared to the Whisky Agency release. The fruity banana is much bigger and there’s less antiseptic to be found. Definitely rounder, even a bit floral. Lime instead of lemon. Vanilla. A little marzipan and praline. Hints of graphite. Beautiful and balanced, excellent Laphroaig. Mouth: a smoky and peppery attack, which gets rounder. Lemon sweets. Peat blast. Marzipan. A pinch of salt and brine. A little mint as well, which is a nice touch. Finish: long with a nice balance of dry smoke, brine and sweet lemon juice.

This Laphroaig 1990 may be marginally less powerful, but it gains balance and complexity, which makes it more to my personal preference than yesterday’s Whisky Agency version. Recommended indeed. Well priced as well: around € 110.

Score: 90/100

We’ll compare it to the Laphroaig 1990 by Malts of Scotland, bottled earlier this year and one of my favourite 1990’s so far. Tomorrow we’ll match it to another bottling.

Laphroaig 21 yo 1990 (55,9%, The Whisky Agency & The Whisky Exchange ‘Private Stock’ 2011, bourbon hogshead, 264 btl.)

Nose: starts very similar, with maritime hints (seaweed, oysters) and smoke. It evolves to a fresher profile though, with more lemon and almost none of the banana / cake / vanilla notes of the MoS version. More classical we’d say. Some green apple. Almonds. Soft medicinal notes in the background. Very clean overall. Mouth: quite dry, with oily elements, smoke, iodine and lemon. A pinch of salt. Liquorice. Slightly leafy towards the end. Balancing citrus. Definitely less sweet and rounded than the one from MoS, and more focused on coastal elements. Finish: long and dry, with salty notes, lemon zest and liquorice.

I’ve always had the impression ‘Private Stock’ was kind of a premium label within the TWA releases. While this Laphroaig is very good, I’m missing kind of a “wow” factor compared to other 1990’s even from the same bottler. Anyway the price is the same as before and the quality is certainly up there, so maybe I’m just confused by the label. Around € 120.

Score: 89/100

Laphroaig 20 yo 1990 (56,3%, The Whisky Agency ‘Perfect Dram’ with Bresser & Timmer 2011, ex-bourbon, 237 btl.)

Nose: quite peaty and smokey, exceptionally high on maritime notes (seaweed, smoked fish). Antiseptic notes. Some wax / fat. Wet gravel and mineral notes. Quite dry and grassy, the expected lemon juice and almonds are present, as well as some banana, but the dominating layer is certainly the maritime smokiness. Intense. Mouth: assertive, oily and coastal. Big smoke with lemon, evolving to drier lemon zest. Salted fish. Sweet almonds and other nutty flavours. Hints of burnt grass and seaweed again. Finish: very long and deeply smoky / peaty. Getting even drier, with liquorice notes.

A very big and maritime Laphroaig. Smoky, powerful and flawless. What’s not to like? Around € 120.

Score: 88/100

Laphroaig 20 yo 1990 (47,3%, Whisky-Doris 2011, bourbon hogshead #10873, 225 btl.)

Nose: a more buttery version again, with some cake and soft vanilla underneath the coastal / medicinal notes. Even a farmy edge that I didn’t find in the other releases. Nice. But mind you, differences are subtle. Mouth: a tad softer due to the lesser strength. Briny, with sweet peat and smoked fish. Almonds. Definitely rounder and sweeter than the Private Stock. A hint of cocoa. Finish: long, smoky and salty with a marzipan coating.

All these 1990’s are similar and it will be down to your personaly preference if you were to pick a favourite. Personally I like a little sweetness to counter the coastal austerity. This one has a perfect drinking strength of course, so no need to fiddle with water. Around € 110 – now sold out.

Score: 90/100

ps/ All these similar Laphroaigs, whether they are 1990 or 1998 or 2000, are getting a little boring. Laphroaig is one of these distilleries with a high quality in general combined with a very small deviation.

I wonder if it’s a good thing for independent bottler to release so many nearly identical casks at the same time? Personally I haven’t bought any of them, simply because I never get the feeling of a unique opportunity. If I’d wish to buy one tomorrow, I think I wouldn’t have difficulty finding similar quality again.

Laphroaig 21yo 1990 (48,4%, Whiskysite.nl 2011, selected by The Whiskyman, bourbon hogshead, 60 btl.)

Nose: quite aromatic. It’s definitely peaty and smoky (hints of bacon) but there’s a nice layer of banana, gooseberries and vanilla to make it a little rounder. Similar to the Laphroaig 1990 by Malts of Scotland in that respect. Nice lemon candy. Some seaweed in the background. Balanced nose. Mouth: sweet and citrusy. More emphasis on the smoke now (smoked fish). Hints of liquorice and antiseptic. Some briny notes as well. Again good fun. Finish: very long, smoky, citrusy.

It’s complex and certainly up there with the other great Laphroaig 1990 we’ve seen in the past few months. Around € 120. They also have a sample for you to try.

Score: 89/100

Laphroaig 20 yo 1991 (53,3%, Liquid Sun 2011, sherry hogshead, 279 btl.)

Nose: impressive notes of tar and smoked meats: cecina de Léon, grison, barbecued streaky (pork belly)… nicely mixed with muted medicinal notes and gouache paint. Coal smoke. Quite sweet as well, with tobacco and some dried fruits. Blackberry jam? Nice balance. Water brings the spices out. Mouth: again very smoky and ashy, with burnt toast and plenty of liquorice, a little pepper and salt. Then the sherry comes through, still showing sweet notes of ripe dark fruits (cassis especially) and chocolate. Nice tobacco notes and espresso. Finish: long, drier, smoky and a bit salty with a little coffee. And back to the smoked bacon.

As I said, sherried Laphroaig can be really good. This one has quite an excellent combination of deep smoke and dark fruits. Recommended. Too bad the rarity makes the price heavier than I hoped for… Around € 150.

Score: 90/100

Laphroaig 12yo 1996 (58,5%, Malts of Scotland 2009, cask #5382, 243 btl.)

Nose: very interesting. The usual seaweed, smoke and iodine but there’s something different about it. Vanilla and lemon. Quite some coal. Medicinal notes, but those are not uncommon of course. Some “garage” associations, you know the smell when you go into a car part store. Leaning towards linoleum, tar or plastics. Don’t get me wrong, I like it a lot. It freshens up with water, the citrus comes out as well as some floral notes. even slightly shampooish (in a good way). Subtly different. Mouth: really really ashy. Apart from that, almost everything is there: sweet, sour, salt. More lemon. Big and quite hot. Fruitier and sweeter with water. Finish: as it thins out, there’s mostly smoke and tar. Some pepper. Long aftertaste.

A classic Laphroaig, spiced up with some more complex or unusual flavours. Apart from the heavy smoke, great balance. Around € 60. Another Malts of Scotland release to recommend.

Score: 90/100

Laphroaig 13yo 1996 (46%, Single Malts of Scotland 2009, cask #1983, 280 btl.)

Nose: rather mellow. Wood smoke mixed with lime juice. Some iodine and marzipan. Typical although fruitier and sweeter than usual, very integrated overall. Water intensifies the sweetness and shows some slightly floral notes. Mouth: very fruity and sweet again. I’m not a smoker, but I guess this tastes like citrus candy after a good cigar. Hints of black pepper and almonds. Finish: sweet and ashy with notes of liquorice and a gently bitter edge (over-infused Lapsang).

Not a wham-bam Laphroaig but quite subtle, sweet and very drinkable. Available from TWE (€ 55).

Score: 85/100

Laphroaig 13 yo 1996 (57,3%, Malts of Scotland 2010 for The Bonding Dram, cask #7313, 255 btl.)

Nose: classic young Laphroaig. Peaty with notes of bandages. Tar. A few coastal hints (iodine) and overtones of lemon grass. Sweet apples. Water makes it even better, with more fruit and lemon marmalade. Balanced and round, with everything you’d expect from a young Laphroaig in the right amount. Mouth: rich and ashy but again balanced by sweeter notes and a creamy texture. Tar again. Some salty liquorice in the aftertaste. Water doesn’t change it much, but brings out a nice toffee sweetness in the end. Finish: long, smoky and slightly salty.

A particularly solid Laphroaig with a great balance, congratulations to Jeroen. Available here, priced € 59 and you get a free 5cl mini.

Score: 88/100