Origin: Isle of Islay (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 52.4%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon, ex-Quarter Cask, ex-Sherry
Chillfiltered: No
Additional coloring: No
Owner: Suntory
Average price: € 100.00
Official website: www.laphroaig.com
Vote: 88/100
For the 2024 edition of the annual series for the Fèis Ìle, Laphroaig has well thought out a mix of two previous versions, those of 2019 and 2021, combining the casks used for the Triple Wood with those of the PX, in an ageing of ten years: in practice, the union of two identical initial maturations (ex bourbon and ex quarter cask) with different finishings (ex oloroso sherry and ex PX sherry).
As always, here’s the full list of the series:
2008 Càirdeas – ex-Sherry, 55%ABV;
2009 Feis Ila – ex-Bourbon, 57.5%ABV;
2010 Master Edition – ex-Bourbon Hogsheads, 57.3%ABV;
2011 Ileach – ex-bourbon, 50.5%ABV;
2012 Origin – ex-Quarter Casks and ex-Bourbon Refill Casks, 51.2%ABV;
2013 Port Wood Edition – ex-Bourbon finished in ex-Port barrels, 51.3%ABV;
2014 Bottled 2014 – ex-Bourbon First Fill finished in ex-Sherry Amontillado Hogsheads, 51.4%,ABV;
2015 200th Anniversary Edition – ex-Bourbon, 51.5%ABV (special edition for the bicentennial);
2016 Madeira Cask – ex-Bourbon finished in ex-Madeira Hogsheads, 51.6%ABV;
2017 Cask Strength Quarter Cask – ex-Bourbon First Fill from Maker’s Mark finished in Quarter Casks ex-Bourbon, 57.2%ABV;
2018 Fino Cask Finish – ex-Bourbon First Fill finished in ex-Sherry Fino, 51.8%ABV;
2019 Triple Wood – ex-Bourbon, Quarter Cask and finished in ex-Oloroso Sherry, 59.5%ABV;
2020 Port & Wine Casks – ex-Bourbon, ex-Ruby Port and ex-Red Wine, 52%ABV;
2021 Pedro Ximénez Casks – ex-Bourbon, ex-quarter cask and ex-Sherry PX, cask strength at 58.9%ABV.
2022 Warehouse 1 – ex-Bourbon first fill, 52.2%ABV
2023 White Port & Madeira Casks – ex-Madeira second fill and ex-White Port first fill, 52.3%ABV
2024 Cask Favourites – ex-Bourbon, ex-Quarter Cask and ex-sherry, 52.4%ABV
Tasting notes
The nose has a rather sweet and full-bodied profile, with the peat playing on the tip of a foil without any mania for prominence, leaving plenty of room for the other aromas. Spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom) and nuts (almonds, walnuts) pave the way for cooked cream, stewed plums wrapped in bacon, orange peel, baklava. Undertones of tobacco and leather, with slight balsamic incursions, and smoke to seal in the aromas, iodised but not too much. Attractive.
In the mouth, the sweetness returns, embodied by prunes, sultanas, nuts, Catalan cream, orange peel, liquorice and coffee powder, accompanied by the spices of the nose together with a sparkling part of chinotto (intended as the soda drink). There is a rough part, of leather and toasted wood, and an herbaceous and balsamic part, of burnt rosemary and thyme, which creeps in among the flavours, followed by the more distinctly coastal peat, with the smoke of burnt grass and seaweed closing the sip.
The finish is quite long and spicy, of chinotto, liquorice, Catalan cream, roasted herbs, brine, burnt wood.
What you would call a ‘solid’ Laphroaig, without a lot of frills, direct and precise, perhaps a little too perfect in its balances that make it a bit of a pleaser, but leaving aside personal idiosyncrasies you cannot deny its excellent workmanship and pleasantness.