Laphroaig 25 yo, 2014 Cask Strength
Some pictures this time:
Laphroaig 25 yo, 2014 Cask Strength 45.1%
(Official photo)
Nose: Time has tamed the beast. Trademark seaweed and iodine are still there but much softer, likewise for the peat and maritime notes. Also, apples stewing on the hob (really evocative of apple), with a side of cinnamon maple drizzle at the ready. Lemon pith adds a touch of sourness. Old dry wood and dying embers. Black tea. What the years in wood have added is a wonderful round complexity, so that all these come together harmoniously, neither trying to oust the other. Exuberance traded for elegance.
Palette: Soft and sweet: ’round’ ripe fruit skins and juiciness plus allspice, then the gentle peat and maritime notes roll back in. Earthy, more black tea, crisp toffee. What needs to be said is the great complexity in all these flavours amalgamated. I really like this ebb and flow between the sweet fruit and soft phenols.
Finish: Long, smoked fruit pastiles, gently sweet and smoky in equal parts.
Very complex and quite subtle. Shows what time and wood can do to something as powerful as Laphroaig – some may call it birdled, I say definitely matured and elegant. Now the question is how many more editions of the 25 yo vatting can include oloroso. We know that Laphroaig fills into first fill Maker’s Mark almost exclusively from the 90s onwards, if we do the math, this has to be one of the last.
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