Laphroaig The 1815 Legacy Edition

I had this travel retail exclusive Laphroaig: the 1815 Legacy Edition sold to me by my friend @PBMichiganWolverine a bit of a discount, as he is looking to offload some of his 500 bottle collection. This bottle retails for $85+ and isn’t available here in the USA (to my knowledge, at least). This was a beautiful, antique gold in the tasting glass and it produced tiny, watery beads around the rim when you give it a twirl. It’s very oily and took quite some time before a few, sparse legs formed. The nose was intensely and richly smoky at first. A heavy hit of menthol and mint seeps through after some time, along with some light berries and fresh cut oak. There’s an earthy undertone that permeates the entire nosing experience. Not a bad intro... The palate is where it kind of went off the rails. The rich smoke and menthol on the nose lead to an impression of a dirty ashtray flavor on the tongue. It was pretty intense. If you let that note subside, which became increasingly tougher with each sip, you were introduced to an earthy mushroom flavor, with black pepper and damp oak. It really didn’t mingle well either. It left me licking and smacking my lips unconsciously as if I was trying to speed up the clearing of my palate. The finish is medium length, smoky again with some lingering pepper burn. The ABV heat is absent, but I think I was still tasting the ashtray note so I seemed to quickly fumble for my glass of water to rush the experience away. All this said, I finished the entire bottle and never considered it a drain pour, but I don’t think I’d seek another bottle (or pour) of this one. @Generously_Paul asked me if it was worse than the Select- and my initial response is “Yes”. I wasn’t as offended by the Select as most people seem to be, though. But, I can confidently say that this is the worst Laphroaig I’ve had to date. It needs some serious rich smoke on the palate to save it and mask that dirty ashtray note. At close to $100 it’s a hard pass. Look elsewhere, my friends. 2-2.5 stars. Cheers.

Inexplicably, coloring was used for the whisky, to make it reach the truly pleasant amber appearance. A sin. The nose immediately welcomes the peat, very full and round, more marine than medicinal, which soon steps aside to leave room for a pleasant sweetness: raisins, ripe apples, marzipan, a touch of chocolate. On the bottom, a light layer of ash and cloves. The mouth is very oily, with the smokiness that immediately envelops the palate with barbecue shades on which they have also grilled ripe fruit (everything is better grilled, a bit like fried). The peat is clearly dominant, saline and incinerated, reversing the balance of the sense of smell with my personal disappointment: all the sweet and fruity aromas seem to have tarnished, flattened in a somewhat boring and monochordic profile. A slight spicy note comes back accompanied by wood, which in the long run is the element that makes itself felt the most, as if it were the only concrete contribution of the European Hogshead. The finish is medium, with wood, ash and fruit, very dry.

This is a whisky of two halves -- specifically, Lore upfront and Quarter Cask on the finish. It starts off with lovely aromas of shellac and stewed fruits that continue into the same rich fruity flavors of the Lore, but then instead of the Lore's long coda of dates and figs you get the short, drying tannis of those little quarter casks. By coincidence, I tasted a sample of the Quarter Cask for the first time a day after opening the 1815, so I was immediately able to make the connection. My initial thought was that this is a similar recipe to the Lore but with younger Quarter Cask spirit replacing some of the former's older stock, but there's no mention of the smaller barrels in the marketing material. The flavor profile is also more disjointed than Lore and while a little water brings a considerable amount of focus to the taste, it's nevertheless the first bottle of Laphroaig I've bought that I wouldn't buy again. It's not a bad whisky, just completely redundant when you can buy Lore for the same price.

This is a fine Laphroaig with an extraordinary aftertaste. That is the best description i can give to it. I don't believe it is the best laphroaig there is, it is not even close to that, but the aftertaste is really remarkable. Its name legacy is really a tribute to all the workers of the distillery who work hard for us to get fine whiskies. Bottled at 48%abv On the nose: Raisins. Peat is so powerful yet so pleasant. Acetone. Vanilla dry cake and Some red fruits. Nice. On the palate: peat. But that kind of artificial, sulphuric, plastic peat from Laphroaig. Aftertaste is just wonderful: Spice bomb. Wasabi, Pepper, A ghostly dried fruit like raisins; very Astringent. There is definitively some sherry influence here, i really think this is a good dram, but since everything that Laphroaig does is good, i believe there are better expressions out there. 90/100.

I was quite excited to try this one. Would it rival the Lore? Short answer no...nowhere near the same league. I had CB King St which I enjoyed and thought it would be a lead in to the piece de resistance. Wrong. I should have looked at distiller with a 3.6 average. I'm with PBM and Ric M. It's looks the goods and initially you think it will deliver but the initial taste leads to nothing like the explosion you get with the Lore; no great aftertaste, in fact it's a slightly weird one. It's muted, dumbed down made for Duty Free. I note PBM/Ric M noted quarter cask influence. I have yet to have a good quarter cask anything. Now it's not terrible but at $100USD it should be great and it isn't. 3.5.

This reminded me quite a bit of a tamer version of Laphroaig's Quarter Cask, maybe a bit of Lore and 10 thrown in for good measure. I wasn't a fan of the QC (was simply too woody for me), but this has its backbone with the features of 10 and Lore. It's a travel exclusive, and if you're a fan of the QC, this might be right up your alley. Personally, I'd buy the Lore, 10, 18 or Cairdeas series over this. But, given the choice of QC and this, I'd take this. Thanks to Richard@moderndrinking for the sample---it's not available in the US markets or airports, so I'm especially greatful for the experience.