As you know, Laphroaig is now bottling its 10yo Cask Strength in small numbered batches that seem to last about one year. I’m late with this one – it was bottled in January 2010 so batch #003 is probably on its way to be released.
Laphroaig 10 yo Cask Strength
(58,3%, OB 2010, batch #002)
Laphroaig 10 yo Cask Strength 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