Best of Islay !! (Laphroaig 10 Year Old Whisky)

Member Name: sidneygee

Product:	Laphroaig 10 Year Old Whisky
Date:	12/03/01 (366 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Promising odour , with a surprisingly strong, intense flavour

Disadvantages: Not liked by the inexperienced, Often you are criticised by phillistines

Now the Islay Malt Whiskys are definitely an acquired taste.

I cannot think that there is any way that a 'whisky virgin' can drink a glass of Laphroaig and do any thing but make a face in the same way as they would of presented with a dose of cod-liver oil. However, there is no way that any case can be taken under The Trade Descriptions Act 1968, because the label describes Laphroaig accurately as “The most richly flavoured of all Scotch Whiskys”.

The word “Laphroaig” itself is a thing of beauty to me. It conjures up not just the promise of a fine whisky, but of the Scottish Islands themselves. The sea lochs and the otters. The word itself means “the beautiful hollow by the broad bay”, which perfectly describes the image that the word puts into my mind.

In my experience the Islay Malt Whiskys as a group have the strongest flavour of any of the Malt Whiskys. Furthermore the strong flavour is not one which the most avid whisky drinker could ever describe as “very pleasant”. Like a 'bitters' flavour, it is a sophisticated flavour which you may not want very day, and on those occasions when you do want it, you will not want to gulp it down in ‘shots’ as is so popular with many of the American whiskeys.

No, you will want to ‘savour’ it. I have referred to the ‘nose’ of a whisky in a previous opinion, and the activity of ‘nosing’ a whisky. To be carried out successfully, you will need the correct glass. If you ever attend a ‘whisky tasters session’ at the distillery or at the bottling plant, you will see a number of peculiar shaped glasses. Older boozers will recognise them immediately – they are the type shown in old advertisements for ‘Chateau Wincarnis’, a fortified British wine sold up until the 1960’s with 'added vitamins and minerals'.

The glass is
a wine glass size, with a narrow opening, but ballooning out down towards a stem base. About 2 centimetres of the spirit is placed in to the glass, the whisky usually diluted with the same quantity of water, the contents of the glass swirled around’ and the vapour trapped in the balloon part sniffed up vigorously by placing the nose over the opening.

Notes are made about the odour, using an agreed set of descriptive terms. I was given a free course in this technique, about 20 years’; ago, and I canna remember anything I was taught. Except that to enjoy any really good whisky, you must choose your glass with care. If you just want to get drunk quickly, the ‘shot style of glass is ideal.. I have an Edinburgh Crystal ‘shot glass’ – very heavy base, straight sides and a nice thin glass, with no thickening at the rim. It is inscribed “A wee Dram ‘afore Ye Go”; and whenever I see it I think “Why Not ?” (answer : “Because although I’ve got the bl**ding car outside, it's NOT ME who has to go !”).

However, to really appreciate an Islay Malt Whisky, such as Laphroaig, you need a squat glass with a wide neck so that as you are sipping it, your nose is able to enter the glass and savour the fine odour. My favourite glass for this purpose is an Edinburgh crystal glass 73 millimetres tall, with an opening 70 millimetres in diameter, but those more well endowed in the snitch department may require something a little larger..... (sorry, couldna resist that !).

The odour is quite pungent and rather ‘dry’ (not ‘sweet’). The taste itself comes as a bit of a shock, because the odour has not prepared you for the intense joy that your (practised) palate receives (in spades!). All at once a tingling, a sweetness, a flash of ‘iodine’, and then a lingering ‘warmth’.

Although it is my personal favourite, i wi
ll not drink it at a bar. That is when I crave the Talisker. But when there’s just masel’ or with two or three friends, sitting late after dinner, it is my ‘ideal’.
You can always tell whether or not a person is a true Whisky connoisseur by how they handle a Laphroaig. It is most definitely a whisky that is not to be interfered with by adding water. If you must, then it should be t a very modest level (no more than 25%) – drown it and you will never get that ‘intense joy’ that I refer to above.

I make most of my fellow Malt drinkers smile whenever Laphroaig is ‘on offer’, because I always love to drink a really good cup of strong, black (naturally) coffee straight after a dram. The taste and mouth-feel of the coffee really does add to the pleasure.

An important feature of Laphroaig is that whilst it is ‘only’ 40% alcohol by volume it certainly feels stronger. A real treat is the ‘cask strength’ product, but if I am judging the cask-strength’ products then they are so different, and I will leave it to a later opinion to open up that consideration.

Copyright Sidneygee2001

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