Laphroaig 31 yo 1974 for LMdW 49.7%
As the Earth makes a full round and now continues in its orbit around the Sun, glad tidings to all mankind this new 2018!
Just going to have a single whisky to mark this day, as I really don’t have any other similar Laphroaig, and anyway the occasion begs for a pensive mood, itself a blend of retrospection and hope which I think is sufficient for this night.
Laphroaig 31 yo 1974 for LMdW 49.7%
A very famous bottle, I feel like I don’t need to say why!
Nose: I can say for sure straight off the first whiff, this is excellent. No dilly dallying. The balance between the sherry and the Laphroaig is on point. A sublime multi-facted whisky of great depth. Immensely phenolic with dazzling dimensions of intense ash, pits of embers and glowing coal. Words are insufficient. Note it is not a ‘brash and loud’ phenolic, but a ‘subtle but Mariana deep’ phenolic – something that you only find in yesteryear’s distillation. Many flavours of earthiness, from dirty bungs to oil laden peat bricks, yet there is a sure salinity. The freshness of which foils these heavier notes. Also piles of mouldering overripe fruit – a fruitiness that seems to me less fresh and tropical like a Bowmore but heavy brooding and ‘layered in’ if that makes sense. And the sherry, in perfect balance, with rancio notes, jam stained leather. Deep purples and blacks. Just perfect.
Palate: Explodes. Much more expressive that the nose. Big and medicinal in ancient tinctures and dried out salves kind of way. Musty and oily with inches of soot and ash pits. Yet coastal with that brine and sea air, the salt is palpable as well. Ash ash ash. Dark woods and lacquers. Bags of freshly packed charcoal. The sea is really insistent here. Fantastic. Also great is the wine is quite muted in this phenolic chorus that exhorts the glory of Laphroaig.
Finish: A long and fitting finale, bursting with nuances. A whisky to be experienced.
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