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#155: Laphroaig Select

Writer's picture: S&PS&P

You can feel the slow pulse of autumn. The leaves are still green but the nights are wet, the days are brisk, and the flowers are all fanned save for the mums that are just starting to poke their heads out. It's apple picking time out here in Ontario.


We're tasting some Laphroaig Select tonight. So far we've reviewed the 10, the Quarter Cask, and the Triple Wood from their core line up as well as a couple limited editions and travel exclusives. The Select is the bottom of that line up, and after that we'll be reviewed the top of it, the Lore.


Laphroaig Select: 40% ABV, $70 CAD, Islay, blend of many casks, including quarter casks, PX, Oloroso, and refill.


We sniff around:


Kyle starts us off with mossy. Briny. Some honey.


Yea big mossy smoke Simon says.


Scott says smoke salty. Rich oak smell. Little grass.


Yea some hay Simon says.


Trevor gets a bright citrus. Sweet peat. Feels like there's something candied tere.


We cheers.


Lemon right out of the gate.


Simon says the salt is more forward on the palate. That mossy note is still there. He gets a sweet oak note.


Scott says this is the sweetest Laphroaig he can recall. How much sugar did they add to this?


Trevor notices there's isn't much of a bite on this. Sean thinks it feels a little watered down. Scott agrees.


Simon says it has very similar tasting notes to the Ardbeg An Oa we reviewed recently, but the body is a lot weaker.


Scott says this is missing the rotten moldy note he typically finds in Laphroaigs.


Kyle gets a chocolate orange note there too.


Reviews: Kyle's pick. This feels a bit watered down. For $10-20 more he would skip this and just stock the 10 and the Quarter Cask. This is decent though, nice notes. 72 for him. Scott lands on 70. He finds it lacking some of the key characteristics of a Laphroaig. Bit watered down. It has nice flavors, nice nose, a little sugary. Wouldn't refuse it. Trevor actually likes it quite a bit. This has a lot of nice notes, he likes that sweetness it has. Easy sipper. Would make a good intro to peated scotches. Good mouthfeel, especially for 40%. He's going 83. Simon finds it a little tough to rate, because on one end he loves these flavors. The An Oa rated high 80s for him with very similar flavors. At the same time the body doesn't come together as well, feels a little weak. He does like it. Out of the core line up the Quarter Cask and the Lore are going to be the only staples for him though. He's thinking mid-70s for this one, lands at 74. Sean agrees with most of the comments, nice flavors, little watered down, he goes 70. Averages out to 73.6.


Overall: Even though this rates decent, it gets overshadowed by the Laphroaig 10 and Quarter Cask, so that none of us, Trevor excepted, are likely to end up with a bottle of this. Overall we would recommend you skip this one. The concept behind it is interesting, but it doesn't come together very well. Kind of an infinity bottle of sub-par casks, diluted down to 40%.


Cheers!

The S&P Crew.

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