Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Lore

Oily and sweet – soft olive oil, baked apples and touches of sweet sultana. Warm leather and coal smoke sit behind, with carbolic soap, TCP, freshly laid tarmac and dry ash. Between those two extremes is a rich grassy note, a combination of chlorophyll bitterness, sweet green grass and peppery olive oil. Candied sweetness as it sits in the glass – banana chips and dried tropical fruit.

PALATE

Richly textured and, again, oily on the palate. It starts gently, with some soft spice, honeysuckle and lightly sweetened lemonade, before the richness rolls in: charcoal, ash, tar, sweet-smelling leather, pungent pipe tobacco, raisins, stewed plums, toasted marshmallows, and sharp apples and their skins. After the initial burst of flavour, things settle down and reveal a dry and ashy core with a mineral, coastal and medicinal character – classic Laphroaig.

FINISH

A burst of sweet apple is joined by ash and forest puddles. The darker flavours fade, leaving anise, apple, green grass and a hint of riverbank earth.