Whisky : Laphroaig 21 Year SMWS 29.271 “Tall, dark, and mysterious”

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 55.5%

Cask : Ex-Bourbon (19Y), 2nd Fill Port Barrique (2Y)

Age : 21 Year (Distilled 13 May 1998)

Nose : Fruit, mineral, and subtle maritime notes.  Toasty cherry tarts, fluffy cotton candy, and powdered sugar donuts.  Beyond the fruity sugars were notes of sweet pool chemicals, graphite, and mineral rich tidal pools.  Gentle notes of clotted cream and caramelized flan came out with more time to breath along with notes of oranges slowly sautéed in brown sugar and butter. 

Palate : Medium bodied with an initially sharp sweet profile that faded toward notes of herbal-tea.  Crisp red apples, fruit punch, and crème brûlée struck first while an undercurrent of fresh pavement, dark shoyu, and ash lingered.  Though the sugars never faded they were gradually complimented by herbal tea, menthol, and charred wood.

Finish :  Lingering notes of grapes with a hint of ashiness.  

Score : 6

Mental Image : Shave Ice in the Parking Lot

Notes :  Our local tasting group split in half over this bottle, half ranked it as their favorite thing we tried during a night of Laphroaigs, the other half thought this was a bit overly sweet and did not have enough of the classic Laphoraig maritime or medicinal notes.  Per my score, I leaned into the second group.  This was almost excellent, it had some of those lovely herbal notes that I found so transfixing in a Douglas Laing 21 Year Laphroaig bottled for La Maison du Whisky, but the extra layer of port driven fruits just stood out a bit too much.  There was an initial sweet hit on this one that never really toned down, even with a few drops of water.

Overall, while I did enjoy this, I was not nearly as taken with it as some others in group, which was why I only rated it a bit above average (I am sure some of them will find me sacrilegious if/when they see this).  Your mileage may vary depending on how much you love maritime/medicinal notes in Laphroaig.  Those who really enjoyed it described it as “elegant” as it moved between different flavor notes and I cannot argue with that.

You may also want to check out the review my buddy ScotchandSheen did of the bottle. He sort of split the middle between myself and those who thought the bottle divine mana.