Whisky: Laphroaig 22 Year (2000), Douglas Laing Cask DL16576 for K&L

Country/Region: Scotland/Islay

ABV: 48.5%

Cask: Refill Hogshead

Age: 22 Years (Distilled June 2000, Bottled Sept. 2022)

Nose: Dirty sand— salt, minerals, and tar; mild menthol and herbal tobacco with oak and rot; occasionally acrid with charcoal and creosote; a kiss of vanilla and charred driftwood.

Palate: Medium-bodied with a mellow texture and gentle notions of salty seas, minerals, and tar, hints of creosote against more prominent herbs with a slightly medicinal edge, old wood and char toward the end with a mild herbal bitterness, hints of orange and vanilla in the background.

Finish: Medium-length with mentholated herbs and dirty beach.

Score: 7 (82)

Mental Image: Smoke Break on a Tourist-free Beach

Narrative & Notes: The aroma spoke of cobalt skies and murky water along a dirty beach— in the air hung salt, minerals, rust, and tar. Smokers dotted the shoreline as mentholated tobacco drifted on the breeze with the rotting water-logged hints of driftwood and old seaweed. Creosote and tar lingered in the background as if a nearby paving project was on hold for the weekend, with hints of more pleasant burnt driftwood and vanilla.  Medium-bodied, the palate was mellow and smooth— an almost buttery texture and viscosity that felt an odd match for the gentle notions of salt and more acrid herbs.  Tar sands and rusted iron along the shore arrived with medicinal herbs and creosote as acrid coastal notions ran throughout.  Old wood, more water-logged driftwood developed with a subtle char and oaky-herbal bitterness toward the end.  Hints of orange and vanilla seemed to shrug in the fruitier direction older Laphroaig can sometimes do.  The finish was medium-length with mentholated herbs and dirty beaches.

Smooth is not often associated with Laphroaig, and I know plenty of people who detest using that word to describe any whisky. I can understand why; it is over-used, often uncritically, and frequently in ad copy for low-abv mass-market blends.  However, I believe the term has a place, especially when describing the mouthfeel or texture of a whisky.  Sometimes, it is synonymous with balance, and those are linked ideas, but balance can also refer to how flavors interact or the sum of those aspects.  I consider smooth to be a textural sensation like buttery or glassy, but not necessarily soft like you might expect with velvety.

Laphroaig rarely has a quality of smoothness— it is often robust with an acrid or medicinal quality that feels a bit sharp on the palate.  That is not bad; my wife believes a good whisky should kick you in the mouth. So, coming across a Laphroaig, especially an older one with those creosote and acrid herbal notions, which are usually more muted at that age, and finding a remarkable smoothness to the whisky is pretty unusual.  I am not sure it entirely worked; the whisky felt too light to carry those particular flavors, and I could easily see some hung up on the slightly bitter herbal or oaky notes toward the end.

Overall, this mature Laphroaig played on some sweet nostalgia for me with its unique profile.  I would not mind a bottle to sit with, but I can understand some frustration with how everything came together— or not— on the profile.