I wanted to do something kind of special for my last full
day on Islay (I know, I know, my first full day on Islay
was pretty damn special). Bowmore is the only distillery on the island whose
offerings that I’ve tried in recent years just didn’t impress me enough to
inspire a visit. That leaves Laphroaig.
When I did my original research they had a tour that
included walking to the water source, and then out to the peat fields to do
some hand cutting, with tastings all along the way: sounded perfect. As the
trip got closer, I started booking tours, and saw that Laphroaig had updated
their website and changed their tours. The one that included cutting peat was
now much longer and twice as expensive. But they had a new one called the
Distiller’s Wares tour, which included samples drawn directly from several
casks, after which you could fill a 250ml bottle with your favorite. I called
and booked.
When we arrived at the distillery, I was quite disappointed
to find out that they had some issues that need to be worked out before that
tour would be available (perhaps paying duty on the casks that samples would be
drawn from?). We were offered a tasting tour instead, which was less expensive
than the one I had booked, but featured some very pricey bottlings. Sold!
We started with the standard distillery tour (photos allowed
here!). I’ve come to learn that the smaller the group, the better the tour.
With too many people, there is always someone in the way when you want to take
a picture, the guides are harder to hear, and you feel bad asking a lot of
questions while the guide is trying to corral everyone and keep them engaged.
With a group of at least 15 college students on our tour, that was the case
here, so I mostly hung back, trailed the group, and took pictures as everyone
moved ahead.
The stills at Laphroaig were quite small, but they have a
lot of them (7 total, 3 wash and 4 spirit, but one spirit still is double the
size of the others), giving them moderate capacity relative to the other
operations on the island.
They also have a traditional floor malting for which they
hand cut peat in the summer months. Of course this is still only enough to
provide about 30% of the malted barley that they use.
The bit of info I was excited to pick up was regarding the
Quarter Cask. It is aged primarily in bourbon barrels (Laphroaig use 1st
fill almost exclusively), then finished in ¼ size barrels. I had always assumed
these were made from new oak. That is not the case, they are actually made from
normal bourbon barrels which have been taken apart, cut down, and re-fitted
into these smaller casks.
At the end of the tour, everyone got a sample of the Quarter
Cask. One of my favorites, dense, rich, creamy texture, pungent smoke, long,
reverberating. I love it!
After that, my father and I split off from the group for our
private tasting. We went to a well appointed tasting room with our samples
already poured when we walked in. We would be tasting through the flagship 10yr
(common, but a good frame of reference to start with), the 25yr cask strength
(only available at the distillery shop for £240), the Cairdeas 2008 Feis Ile (a
special bottling for the 2008 Feis Ila festival, limited release, pretty hard
to come by), and the Cairdeas 30yr (they used the Cairdeas name to
differentiate it from a previous 30yr bottling with a different flavor profile,
this one retails around £500).
10yr, 40% abv, from first fill bourbon barrels, chill
filtered (the 10yr is the only thing they chill filter). Smoke and sea spray on
the nose. The palate starts off with a big wall of peat smoke and some
sweetness which fades as the smoke builds and carries on. It finishes fairly
dry, we were told this is a result of the chill filtering.
25yr, cask strength of 48.6% abv, ½ sherry casks, ½
bourbon barrels (not sure if they meant the number of casks/barrels of the amount of
liquid, sherry casks can hold twice as much, so it could be 33% bourbon aged and
66% sherry aged, but judging by the color I kind of doubt that). Dark fruit and shoe polish on the nose. Mild restrained peat
smoke, smooth, nice balance of mild smoke and dark fruit flavors.
Cairdeas (pronounced car-chas) 2008 Feis Ile, 55% abv, made
from a vatting of 33 casks – two 17yr 2nd fill sherry butts and 31
bourbon barrels. The bourbon barrels were 9 to 15 years old when the liquid in
them was transferred into fresh 1st fill bourbon barrels and aged
for another 4 years. Strong peat and oak spice, warm and bourbon like. Interesting, but not my favorite.
Cairdeas 30yr, 43% abv, 1536 bottles made, 60% first fill
sherry, 40% bourbon, married together and finished in bourbon barrels. Very
mild smoke as an underlying component throughout, complex, nice mix of bourbon
/ American oak flavors (spice, caramel, vanilla) and very mild classic sherry
flavors of dark candied fruit.
Going from the 30yr to the 25yr, the smoke on the 25yr seems
much more apparent. After going back and forth between the two, then tasting
the 10yr again, it seems a bit uncivilized. As I sampled all four, the 25yr and
the 30yr seemed to disappear much more quickly.
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