Our 5th Laphroaig here on S&P, and with 4 more on deck. We definitely find ourselves more drawn to Islay distilleries and they're consistently taking over the top spots. At the time of this writing, 7 of our top 10 are Islays, and our top 4 are Ardbeg Uigeadail and Lagavulin 12 tied for 1st, with Lagavulin 16 and Lagavulin 8 trailing right behind. There's a Bowmore and a Caol Ila in that top 10 too. Simon thinks that once we branch out of OBs and core ranges we'll find a lot more Speysides and Highlands in the mix, like the Cadenhead Glenrothes we recently reviewed that's sitting at #11 right now. It might also be that Islay is just where it's at.
Laphroaig Triple Wood. 48% ABV. ex-bourbon, quarter casks, sherry butts. $100 CAD.
We sniff around:
Sherry, salt, sea air, peat.
We talk about the classic Laphroaig note we get here, we've seen it described as band-aids which is relatable somehow. Simon goes more for a stale seawater puddle that's had the sun beaming on it for a while and has weird things growing in it. Filter out the weird stuff and you've got yourself the base for Laphroaig.
Scott pulls out some fruits, a red wine smell, molasses kind of sweetness. Simon agrees, says it smells like the color burgundy.
We cheers.
It's warm.
Simon finds it abnormally salty, even for a Laphroaig. The sherry influence is definitely there but it gets murky behind the salt. Peat bog mossiness.
Scott is impressed with the smoothness, unexpected feel from this. Little mildew on the nose now.
Kyle goes for a salty seaweed.
Salt lingers for a while. The feeling when you eat too much salt & vinegar chips Simon says. Sean likes the finish here, even though it's short. Some of us think it's fairly long though, some disagreement here.
Trevor points to the chewiness and richness.
Reviews: Simon's pick. He likes it because it's Laphroaig but at the same time it's been consistently too salty, that overdone salt & vinegar finish he gets, so he can't give it the score Laphroaig deserves. The nose is great though, and there's still some peaty sweet flavors in there that he loves, so this lands him at 77. Trevor wants to rate it high 80s but that salt just makes things a little too murky. Goes 81. For Kyle this reminds of the Kilkerran 12 in terms of over-salted. 81 as well for him. Sean pins this at 72. Didn't hit the way he likes. The Laphroaig 10 and PX were much better. Scott disagrees, the salt is nicely balanced with the sweet and sour in this books. Rounds us out with an 83. We average out to 78.8.
Overall: We prefer the travel exclusive Laphroaig PX for roughly the same price. We'd be very interested to compare with the Laphroaig 10 Sherry that was released recently. The Triple Wood has all the right flavors, it just didn't nail the balance very well for most of us.
Cheers!
The S&P Crew.
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