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Laphroaig Cask Strength 10 Year Old

A Moorish Laph (005)

1 890

RReview by @Rigmorole

5th Jun 2014

0

Laphroaig Cask Strength 10 Year Old
  • Nose
    ~
  • Taste
    ~
  • Finish
    ~
  • Balance
    ~
  • Overall
    90

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

This one is sharper than the 003, which I liked better. Still, it's a great bargain and going fast. I've hard tell that Laphroaig might ease off the cask strength bottlings. Then again, that's merely gossip by peat heads, who tend to get paranoid about losing their fix, so to speak.

Well, this bottle is adequate for an inveterate peat head to enchant himself (or herself) with a snort of hand-shoveled smoking barley while dreaming of Islay.

Here are my notes:

Nose: I don't find the TSP as loud in here as the regular ten year. Camphor, chalk, pine resin, crayon wax, dates, vanilla bean, licorice root chew stick, cheap cologne (Jovan musk for men), pork shoulder.

Mouth: Smoke and peat that quickly turn sweet, almost to a sickly extent, but still within the acceptable range for a good Laphroaig offering. Dark chocolate (over 85% cacao), green olives (again), iodine, dried seaweed, smoked monk fish, Listerine mouthwash, TSP, fennel, clove, bitter oak, sage.

Finish: Peat subsides to oak and then turns bitter on the death. Medium long. More bitter and less well rounded than the 003.

Here's what I said about the 003 a year ago. As you can see, the finish was better, warmer and more buttery. The "edge" reminded me more of chickory than this one. This one is slightly acrid. Then again, I just opened the bottle. Oxygen can work wonders. If the whisky changes significantly, I will review it again.

003 Tasting Note Highlights: Aromatic gifts of pine sap, iodine (of course), seaweed, oak, green olives, cloves.

In the mouth, it opens up into crispy bacon, sherry, smoked trout, buttered toast, fireplace ash.

As it trickles down the mid-palate, savory flavors take a turn for the sweeter, transforming themselves mercurially and magically into chocolate, chickory coffee, Rocky Patel robusto cigar wrapper, lemon, vanilla bean, and Ritter Sport wafer.

The finish is long, lush, and multi-various with hints of many of the flavors listed in the palate that flitter across the psychological gulf from the tongue to the brain.

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8 comments

Rigmorole commented

And, no, I don't mean "moreish." Newspeak, thank you very little ;)

10 years ago 1Who liked this?

@Frost
Frost commented

@rigmorale - thanks for a well thought out review. I really want to get my hands on this !

10 years ago 0

@Nock
Nock commented

@rigmorole

I decided to respond to your question here.

First, thanks for the review. I wish I had a taste of batch 003 . . . but currently I am unwilling to lay down the cash it would require to procure said batch from overseas. We will see if I change my mind. THAT said, I am grateful to read a comparison review of these two batches.

As to my own review of batch 005 . . . I am going to have to adjust it (yet another reason I wish I could change not only the score but the actual review here on connosr). My posted review opinion has changed as the bottle has been opened. The dark fruits I found at first (especially when compared to other batches) now seem to have drastically receded into the background. Further, it has become much more bitter in the taste and finish. My scores for this bottle have ranged from 92 to 87. That said, I would probably settle on a final score of 90.5 (if that were possible) as an over all score to represent the journey of this batch. It is most certainly not my favorite CS batch. In fact, I find myself reaching for the standard 10yo (which I score around 88) over this bottle. Why? Because I just enjoy it more. This has enough complexity, power, and balance to bump up my score . . . but it is very different from the standard 10yo in a way I don’t enjoy as much as other CS batches.

So with all that said, I can totally see your score for this batch and agree.

10 years ago 0

Rigmorole commented

Nock: I got up this morning and took a wee nip of this bottle. Holy cow, it's improved! Is that possible in only fifteen hours of having been opened?

At any rate, just bumped my review up to 90. It's definitely better all around. I'm getting two more bottles of this stuff in case Laphroaig quits making any more cask strength hooch.

10 years ago 0

@Bigtuna
Bigtuna commented

Nock, I know where two cases of batch 3 are for roughly $60! I'm planning on getting my aunt to bring me a bottle.

10 years ago 0

Rigmorole commented

@bigtuna, can you pm me? I'd love to get a bottle or two of the 003. I'm tapped out here in Oregon

10 years ago 0

@tjb
tjb commented

Good review and a great discussion in itself. I think batch 003 has been my favourite so far. I have just opened my batch 006 so will be reviewing shortly. I missed the very first release but have had 002 - 006 and they all benefit from time in the glass to mellow and become more rounded or simply time in an opened bottle. Lets hope they continue to make these annual releases.

10 years ago 0