Laphroaig 10 Years Old Cask Strength Batch #009 58.1% NV

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (89)

I’ve not tried any of the OB CS Laphroaigs for longer than is healthy. Shame on me! Colour: Gold. Nose: A bowl of cigar ash, black pepper, iodine and a few wheelbarrows full of dried seaweed. Goes on with sandalwood, some sweet vanilla and lemon rind. A big, simmering pot of medicine, germoline and TCP bubbles away underneath everything. With water: if there was such a thing as peated grease... lemon oil, black pepper, dettol and wood ash. Mouth: dense, sticky, sweet peats - the kind a Land Rover would need to be towed out of - also bags of salted fish, kippers, black olives and natural tar resin. A huge blustery seashore of a thing! With water: mercurochrome, brake fluid, resinous peats and a lungful of kiln smoke. Finish: Long, intensely ashy, peppery, salty and medicinal. Comments: Why on earth bother with nonsense like Lore and Select when you can just release something as brilliantly ‘no holds barred’ as this? I’m no fan of the uber-vanilla driven modern Laphroaigs, but when they get the balance right and keep the wood in balance with the distillate, it’s still a distillery that is hard to beat in my book. This one is rock solid.

BOW (89)