Whisky : Laphroaig “Williamson” 7 Year; The Maltman

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 53.9%

Cask : Oloroso Sherry Butt

Age : 7 Years (Distilled April 2012, Bottled May 2019)

Nose : Thick heady smoke of a charcoal grill and a tobacco pipe— someone open the window.  Oily baked salmon on a wooden plank, antiseptic iodine, and beef jerky; this dram has a wonderful blend of meaty and maritime notes.  Given enough time teases of cherries and tangerines start to come forward.

Palate :  Lovely viscous oily body with just a faint dryness near the end.  The sweet and spice of rich pipe tobacco or the warm breeze of a cigar humidor come rushing forward.  Not far behind are meaty maritime notes of crispy fatty salmon skin, smoked fish, and fresh oysters steaming on a coal fired grill.  There are so many variations on spice, meat, smoke, and maritime in this dram— fish head soup while the restaurant is on fire, Vietnamese crab meat soup, pig blood cake.  There is no escaping, and why would you want to, the charred wood and seafood.

Finish :  Lingering notes of sweet charred meat and burnt driftwood.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Seafood Stall on Fire.

Something Similar : Highland Park 17 Year; Exclusive Malts (similar oysters/salmon, more earthy salt)

Something Similar : Westland Hand-filled No. 3204 (more fruit/funk, less maritime, similar meat)

Something Worse : Bowmore 12 Year; Exclusive Malts (similar salmon skin, more petrol smoke)

Notes : What a beauty!  This dram checked just about all of the boxes for me.  At just a hair over 7 years this dram showed remarkable complexity.  The influence of the oloroso butt perfectly complimented a straightforward melange of typical Laphroaig maritime/iodine/smoke notes.  The only thing that really held this dram back was a bit more finesse, the flavors were young and punchy, though with a dram this good, maybe it is not worth waiting to see what happens if it stays in the cask a bit longer.

I love it when independent bottlers use the moniker Williamson as a stand in for Laphroaig when necessary.  Bessie Williamson is a giant in the history of Islay single malts having led Laphroaig through the tumultuous war years and laying the foundation for its success in the latter half of the twentieth century.  Though, like many great distillers and managers, she is unknown to the average drinker, her fingerprints are all over the prevalence of peated scotch in the imagination of many Americans and the ongoing success of Laphroaig.  I enjoy when whisky or scotch can tell subtle stories and the use of the name Williamson is a great hook for the curious.