I first tasted this at the Laphroaig Distillery in 2015 and bought two bottles on the spot. It is a special bottling to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the distillery being founded that was made from barley that was 100% smoked with peat at the distillery. For other bottlings, I was told at the distillery that only 20% of the barley was smoked at the distillery due to demand, the rest was purchased from the Port Ellen malting (smoked at 50 PPM). Bottled at 43% alcohol, it is a golden yellow colour. The nose is a heady mix of the peaty, medicinal, coastal profile that we, to coin a phrase, Laphroaig-heads, love. However, I also found some stewed tropical fruit in there as well. The mouthfeel has a nice sharp peaty edge, but this glides effortlessly across my tasted buds. Every sip brings a smile to my face. I do not think I could ever tire of drinking this delightful dram. For me, this is classically individual bottling of Laphroaig.
Curious - I see in your note, Nicos, that this bottling was done using 100% floor-malted barley. I can only find this description applied to the 200th Anniversary Cairdeas in all the reviews, not to the 15 year. I find it curious that, if it’s true of both, the literature wouldn’t be touting it for both.
Oh, gotcha. Yes, if there’s something in the literature, please do let me know. It’s odd that almost every review on the Cairdeas mentions this fact, but none, as far as I can tell, of the reviews on the 15 year do.
Thanks, Mark. That’s what it was looking like to me, but thought Nicos might have been told something different at the distillery when he bought the 15 year described above in his note as being 100% in-house.
Hi Sarah. I was definitely told this at the distillery by one of the chaps who worked there. The point was that this bottling was peatier than usual and had more individual character.