With all the noise from this year’s Feis Ile winding down we will soon be seeing a wave of this year’s bottlings being sold throughout various auction sites. As most know Feis Ile is a festival held on Islay and almost all the distilleries have a special bottling that is for sale, mainly at the distilleries only, but some make their way to some online shops but for people who didn’t attend the festival your best chance at scoring one will be on an auction site. Luckly last year Laphroaig’s bottling made it here stateside. The so called “pink” Laphroaig is an NAS whisky that was double matured in both ex bourbon and port barrels. I’ve read online it’s roughly 8-10yrs old but without concrete proof I’ll only assume it’s relatively young whisky. I know I’m a day late and dollar short with this review but like I stated when I started this blog, I’m picking from my own personal stash so some might not be the most relevant.
Type: Single Malt Region: Islay
ABV: 51.3 Color: Amber +3 Body: med
Nose: Loads of bonfire smoke, coal and tar. The peat is very sharp and very Islay and is accompanied by a medical cough syrup note. I’m also getting some potpourri, bacon grease, bbq and honey glazed ham I’m not really finding too much port influence in this. With water it sweetens up. I’m now getting some honey, caramel covered apples and some grapefruit juice,
Palate: Rather sweet upfront with honey and vanilla. Mid palate that typical Laphroaig smokiness takes over but doesn’t over power. Some peppery and cinnamon spicyness. Followed by a sea of ash.
Finish: A rush of french vanilla, cafe cubano, ash, cigar smoke and cherry lozenges. Rather quick by Laphroaig’s standards.
Overall: This is a rather sweet Laphroaig but not really a port influenced Laphroaig. In fact I think the bourbon cask imparted much more influence. It’s a little different then the standard offerings but it’s style has Laph’s signature medicinal notes and big smoke. It’s good but not great.
The Whisky Journal 