Laphroaig 40 yo 1960 / 2001 42.4% vs Laphroaig 28 yo 44.4% (2018)
Laphroaig 40 yo 1960 / 2001 42.4%
I avoid using the word smooth, but in this case it seems especially apt. Long age has weathered this whisky into a gentle and homogenous blend of gentle smoke, clean seaside, dried celery, pine dust, white sand, flinty earth, and perhaps just one or two mango slices. Most delicate. There are Rosebanks way bigger than this. To be honest I really like where the nose is going but its a little feeble. On the tongue, the fruit juice, salt, earthy resins and oily peat manage a quiet hurrah, but the whole is unfortunately past its prime, and I’m not sure its just the abv. 88 pts
Laphroaig 28 yo 44.4% ~ bottled 2018
Good one. One of those from the lighter years at Laphroaig, so more seaside than bonfires. Hemp rope, waxed canvas, bruised stone fruit, medical tinctures, white ash, lit coals, clean rubber, old wax sticks, saltwater, and a little washed up seaweed. Not a bold whisky by any measure. A sort of light earthy-rooty oil, and saltier on the tongue, dried leaves and bark, cardamom and fruit infusions. From an interesting mish-mash of casks, but it doesn’t show in the whisky, which I count as a very positive thing. 88 pts
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