Laphroaig 10 Years Old without feathered crest Badge 43% NV

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (87)

Colour: gold. Nose: yes. I’d say it’s rather less on tropical fruits than earlier bottlings, while being more medicinal than any officials I could try so far. It’s really all on bandages, embrocations, antiseptic, camphor, burning pinewood, Kools… Very spectacular, all you still need is a nurse ;-). Mouth: exceptionally brutal, once again it’s stronger than earlier bottlings, more austere, certainly smokier and vastly more medicinal. Peppery smoke, cough medicine, mercurochrome, acrid green apples, then indeed notes of grapefruits but I couldn’t find any hints of mangos or passion fruits, that was more in the 1960s and 1970s. Finish: very long, very smoky, rather rough. Saltier aftertaste. Reminds me of some smoked oysters. Comments: the kind of Laphroaig that explains why they used to use the ‘love it or hate it’ kind of line in their ads. Pretty extreme! Now, this sissy of a taster used to prefer the gentler, fruitier ones!