E-pistle #01/01 - An interview with Derek 'Bowmore' Gilchrist
by Patrick Whaley, USA
First off Mr. Gilchrist, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer some of our questions. Q1 - How long have you been working at Bowmore? I have been with Morrison Bowmore
Distillers for around six years. Before that I worked for their then UK Distributor as a Brands Manager for Bowmore for another four years more. Before that, during my career in Spirits marketing I have had experience on such brands as
Macallan, Langs Whiskies, Glengoyne Malt Whisky, Isle Of Jura Malt Whisky and Mackinlay's Whiskies - some names from the past! Q2 - What is a typical day for you at the distillery? Actually our Head Office is
not situated at a distillery. We are based in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Here we have the blending & bottling facility together with all the other HO functions such as Marketing, Accounts, Production Sales etc. Q3 - What is your favorite part of the job? It all really. There is no one part that stands out - it is so varied. We do have great fun designing & developing new styles and the packaging to go
around them. We have a good group of Distributors around the globe but they do keep us busy - whether developing promotional activity, advertising or even PR initiatives. We meet with the Key Distributors regularly and discuss our
central strategy for our brands and how they can implement it in their marketplace - to ensure a global strategy is in place. Each market is at a different stage of Malt Whisky maturity and so this is quite a meeting of minds. Still,
Bowmore is booming around the globe so we must all be doing something right. Q4 - What do you attribute to the boom of single malt scotch in recent years? Availability. First through the Specialists who began
to take an interest in the category and now through to the Multiples who have, in very recent years, begun to list a number of Malts. Coupled with this, a number of good Malt Writers around the globe who have managed to explain the
category - much like the wine writers have done for many more years. This coupled with good marketing. (I would say that though!) In reality, most Malt Whisky went into the former Blended Whisky Market and so nobody had really marketed
Single Malts until the past few decades. Then somebody realised that great Single Malts were being turned into average Blended Whiskies - amazing it took them so long to work it out.
Q5 - What characteristics do you think constitutes a great whisky? Now there's a question ! and probably 'character' is the answer. There are so many Malt Whiskies around you need something special to get to the
top. Probably our confidence comes mostly from the liquid in the bottle - before you add all the other elements which we dream up to support it, such as packaging, advertising & promotion. I/we truly believe in the product - it is
such a good dram, whatever the age or finish. This is the most crucial factor in our growth over recent years. The Distillery team produce the great whisky and many years later we bring it to market. But if it was not good we
would not get the repeat purchase and we would not grow. So put it down to the team at the Distillery in the first instance. At Bowmore Distillery, on Islay, the team have more years of experience between them than possibly any
other product or production facility you could name (whatever the product) and this gives us unparalleled consistency of production. Q6 - Names like Bowmore, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, and Ardbeg are considered be top notch malts,
if not powerhouses. What makes Islay such a breeding ground for producing top caliber malts in your opinion? In my opinion, simply because they are not 'simple' malts. Each has a character all of its own and each, partly
because of the island location, has had continuity of working practice and, crucially, the workforce over the years. This continuity of workforce has meant that all the experience has been passed down over the generations, from father to
son to grandson - and it really works when you have a product which is distilled by one generation and bottled by the next or even the next - they all take great pride in their art. I think that many of the mainland competitors miss this
continuity. You will see when you visit the island, or perhaps I should say you will 'feel', the warm of the Islay people - in my opinion it also shines through the whiskies.
Q7 - Is there any friendly competition amongst the distilleries on Islay? Yes, but I'm not sure if we really see it as competition in the true sense of the word. Because we all have different products there is a place
for each. Tastes vary amongst consumers - your readers will each have their own favourite - either overall or for a particular time or place. I don't think that we fight amongst ourselves, we are all taking on the, current, market
leaders and possibly the Blended whiskies, to grow our shares. Islay whiskies have a quality all of their own and we are very proud of them all.
Q8 - Why has Bowmore chosen to market such a broad range of official bottlings? Basically, because we could. It may sound flippant but we found that much of the competition just did not have the portfolio of whiskies available
to them so one way we could differentiate Bowmore from the competition was to provide a wider age / style range - a major USP for us. Much of the competition had used their older age stocks either in their core brand or had whittled them
away into Blended Whiskies over the years. Bowmore, having been family owned for many years still had much of the 'family silver' still intact. We are, carefully, bringing this to market but still keeping much up our sleeves - for a
rainy day! Q9 - Do you have any particular favorite within the Bowmore range? Like many, I like Bowmore 17 Years Old. Q10 - What was the actual age of Bowmore Surf? Well, as you know, we do not declare an age on
Surf. In reality it is similar to Legend in the Domestic marketplace, around 8 Years Old. (Surf being available in the Travel Retail marketplace) Q11 - What exactly goes into the Cask Strength? Again,
there is not an age declared on Cask Strength. So the answer I give today should not be taken as gospel for all eternity. For the case of this interview I can say that today the product is a minimum of 12-13 Years Of Age. You
basically take a Single Malt and don't reduce it to the standard strength of 40% or 43% - just leave it at the nominal cask strength of 56%, simple really. Many consumers like the higher strength as it gives another aspect to the dram. Q12 - What proportion of malt is casked in first fill sherry, refill sherry, With the 12 Years Old,
15 Years Old and 17 Years Old the recipe is similar; each is made up with (approximately) 30% Oloroso Sherry Butts, a mixture of First & Second Fill, the remaining 70% is American Ex-Bourbon Casks. This 70% is broken down as
(approximately) the first 20% being First Fill and the remaining 50% being second fill. Q13 - It seems that Bowmore switches direction in the older
bottlings. The 21 and 25 are much mellower than the Mariner. Even the 17 is in that direction. Do you select certain casks to be older bottlings? And if so, what criteria are used? No, as I said earlier, all Bowmore Single
Malt is produced in exactly the same way. Certain casks are left aside / planned to be left aside for the older ages but, as you will know, the age on the bottle is the minimum age so a 21 Years Old could have ages higher than that in
the bottle. The reason it is mellower is because of the maturation process. It sleeps in its cask and does change over the years - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You used to get many an old blender tell the tale that
whisky did not change after ten or twelve years but it was just not true. Sure it does not change if you put it into glass at ten or twelve years but leave it in a cask and the maturation continues - and it generally mellows. The
peat recedes and the various flavours of the wood come through. Best way to see this is to pick up one of our Miniature Collection Drums. They contain Legend, 12 years Old, 17 Years Old and 21 Years Old - try them from the youngest
through to the oldest and you will see the development through the years. A Vertical Tasting like no other. Q14 - What made Bowmore decide to use new and different styles of finishing we see in the Claret, Voyage, and
Dusk bottlings? Boy, you did get a good number of questions together! It really started for us with Black Bowmore. We found some old sherry casks of Bowmore with an amazing spirit inside and decided that rather
than just use them in one of our standard age bottling we would bring them out as a limited edition - we knew they were extra special. After their success and the massive prices they began to command at auction, we decided that we should
attempt to produce a sherry casked Bowmore for the wider market. To replicate Black Bowmore we would need both luck and thirty years of maturation so we took some 12 Years Old Bowmore, selected some choice sherry casks, and matured it
for a further period to see what would happen. Luck WAS on our side because when we looked at it after two years it had turned into what you now know as Bowmore Darkest. I should point out that we did look at it several times
during these two years and at only one year, although it was good, we did not think it was the great dram we were looking for. However, when we got close to the two years additional maturation we all agreed we had a winner and designed
up Darkest to bring it to market. It is still only available in limited quantities but, because of the two year process, it does enable us to produce a Sherry Casked Bowmore in a more realistic timescale than the unique Black Bowmore -
it is known as 'Son of Black Bowmore' within our team. Claret , Dusk and Voyage have followed on from this initial maturation programme. We selected some really unique Claret casks and carried out the same trials - again,
after two additional years of 'finishing' we found the best balance and, since this time, have decided that we should always finish these whiskies for around two years - and have a programme in place to achieve this. We think that this
is the reason our Bowmore finishes have shone out from some of the competitors who we know finish their products for much lesser periods - and achieve their own results. Q15 - What is in store for Bowmore in the future? Well, that would be telling. All I can really say is that we have steady growth plans - and that quality whisky is what we see as the key to our growth - so no take-over of the world market in the short term just steady
growth in line with our maturing stocks. Q16 - Any new bottlings in the years to come? Perhaps some more Black Bowmore, that is supposed to be as I know it is not likely, and hey, you can always dream.? Yes
there will be further new bottlings. But, as you can imagine, we lay whiskies down today to mature and be bottled generally between ten, twenty and thirty years from today. So we are working with whiskies today many of which were
distilled in the sixties, seventies and eighties. How many products or businesses work on such timescales ? There could be another Black Bowmore in the No1 Vaults - you will just have to wait and see.
On behalf of Malt Madness, thank you very much Mr. Gilchrist. It was a pleasure. Derek M. Gilchrist
So here we go!
In addition, I note you say 'official bottlings' and this is a good point because we believe that you only get the truly 'great' Bowmore Malts from the source. An unofficial bottling is not really the same thing. It
has not been warehoused at Bowmore, on Islay, in the damp cellars, by the sea and does not have the same characteristics at all. It may be 'interesting' and it is probably a good dram in its own right but it is unlikely to be a great example
of a true Bowmore. Such casks could have been warehoused anywhere on mainland Scotland. They could have been badly maintained, had poor climate control or even been moved into other casks at some time, who knows? That is why we
never make comment on such whiskies - and we do get asked. We would hate to see a consumer faced with his first Bowmore from an unofficial bottling -there are just too many variables, out with our control, which could damage the
maturation process - much better paying for the real thing in my book.
But some of our more recent additions such as Darkest, Claret, Dusk and Voyage are great in their own right.
first fill bourbon and refill bourbon in the 12 yo?
Does the proportion change in the Mariner 15 and 17?
All of the above is approximate as all depends on individual cask quality.
Marketing Director - Whisky
Morrison Bowmore Distillers Limited
Patrick Whaley
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E-pistle #01/12 - Laphroaig JOLT; 22/12/2001
Transcript by Johannes van den Heuvel, Holland
It's December 22, 2001; the 1st day of the 2nd winter of the 3d millennium. This was our very first attempt at our very first JOLT (Joint On-Line Tasting).
A small coningent of certifiable malt maniacs went out to study a number of
different bottlings from perhaps the 'Islayest' distillery on Islay; Laphroaig.
(Well, of course they didn't really 'go out' - not in this weather!)
The Laphroaig distillery is located on the South shore of Islay, close to Ardbeg
and Lagavulin. I don't know if the location is a factor, but these three are the
powerhouse distilleries from Islay. None of the other Islay distilleries (Bowmore,
Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain and Caol Ila) produces single malts with so much
peaty power. Of these three 'Lochindaal powerhouses', the traditional profile
of Laphroaig may be the most extreme. To me, the 'medicinal' qualities of
Laphroaig are unique - the presence of iodine makes any blind test easy.
As a result, the number of participants was relatively limited and we didn't set up a real 'live' environment.
For our first JOLT, contributions were submitted by:
Klaus Everding - Hamburg, Germany
Louis Perlman - New York, USA
Patrick Whaley - Minnesota, USA
Davin de Kergommeaux - Ottawa, Canada
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'The Essence of Islay' by Johannes
Well, the weather is certainly cold enough tonight!
Wind and snow - perfect conditions for Islay malts. Somehow, the whiskies that are born on this windswept island at the west coast
of Scotland seem to express themselves best when the weather is worst. Even a die-hard Islay lover like myself might prefer a Speysider or a Campbeltown malt on a hot summer night, but winter is the domain of Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphraoig.
The Laphroaig distillery was founded in 1815 by Alexander and Donald Johnston. Donald died
in 1847, after falling into a big barrel of beer. What a way to go, eh? Fortunately, Donald wasn't the last of the Johnstons; the distillery remained in the family until 1954.
Nowadays, Laphroaig is owned by Allied Domecq. The fact that Laphroaig could be sold legally in America during the prohibition years
was largely due to its medicinal character - which proves that the heavy, phenolic 'Phroaig character isn't an invention of recent
times. The distillery is one of the few that still have their own maltings, although the capacity is limited. (The capacity at the Port
Ellen maltings is three times higher.) These days, all official Laphroaig bottlings are matured exclusively in bourbon barrels. For tonight's JOLT, I selected four different bottlings from my collection; - Laphroaig 10yo (43%, OB, 100 cl)
Only one of these bottles (the 'standard' 10yo ODB) was open; the rest came in directly from my reserve stock. There is another
closed bottle of Laphroaig in my collection, but I decided to keep the 'Leapfrog' 12yo 1987 46% (Murray McDavid - bottled 2000) in my
reserve stock for a while longer. This particular bottling is quite a collector's item, because it is the last bottling under this name. In
the past, Allied Domecq guarded the brand name 'Laphroaig' vigorously and made sure no independent bottler was allowed to use the
name on their labels. Private bottlings appeared on the market, but they were given fancy names like 'Leapfrog' and 'Laudable'. The
proprietors recently changed their policies, so future independent bottlings will have the name 'Laphroaig' on the label.
Not to worry though - four different Laphroaigs are challenge enough. For me, the 'standard' Laphroaig 10yo (43%, OB) represents what an Islay malt is all about; the Power of Peat! It has been a
constant resident on my top shelf since I discovered it about ten years ago. I can always count on it to warm my body and soul on a
cold winter night. There are a few Islay malts that score more 'quality' points, but when it comes to pure power and individuality the Laphroaig 10 is a hard act to follow. It's impossible not to have an opinion about this bottling. Strange. I can't remember detecting fat and oil in the 10 before, but Jeroen and Adwy found the fat and oil as well - so I wasn't
imagining things. Adwy thought it was too sharp in the finish, making it lose points. Jennifer detected an explosion on the palate after adding water. The second version of the evening was a fresh bottle.
- Laphroaig 15yo (43%, OB, 70 cl)
- Laphroaig 10yo 'Original Cask Strength' (57.3%, OB, 100 cl)
- 'Laudable' 15yo 1985/2000 (50%, Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask, 70 cl)
That makes this 'Leapfrog' a bottle to save for later.
To assist me in my hour of need, I invited five people over; Arthur, Reinier, Adwy, Jeroen and Jennifer. Around 20:30 the last member
of tonight's tasting panel arrived and we started the session.
Nose: Needs a minute, then the phenols kick in. Medicinal. Iodine.
Lots of peat and smoke. A little fishy? An autumn walk on the beach.
Taste: Heavy peat and smoke. No sweetness at first. Slightly fatty & oily.
Pinch of salt. Very dry in the long finish with lots of peat in the end.
'No Half Measures' indeed...
Analyzing it, we imagined that this malt would go very well with seafood.
The final rating of 86 points stands, although I'm leaning towards 87.
The Laphroaig 15yo
(43%, OB) opened with a very good 'Plop!'. Why do I like a loud 'plop' so much, you may ask? Well, for one thing
lower air pressure inside the bottle proves that the bottle was perfectly sealed. This is my second bottle; Davin bought me my first bottle over a year ago.
Nose: Much sweeter and fruitier than the 10. Better balanced as well, although I'm not sure that's a good thing in this case. After a
minute, the peat comes to the foreground. The aroma doesn't seem as overwhelming as that of my first bottle; it may require some breaking in. The volume increases after a few minutes and a few drops of water, becoming maltier and 'farmy'.
Taste: That's more like it! Peat and wood, with a powerful sweetness in the middle.
Some smoke, but not too much. Lots of development. Very good.
Jeroen noticed that the development in the taste was slower than in the 10. He's right; the start of this malt is a lot softer than the 10, but it more than makes up for it later on. My rating of 88 points stands for now, although this bottling seems a little weaker than my last one.
Time to move to higher proof. I've never tried the Laphroaig 10yo 'Original Cask Strength' (57.3%, OB) before, so opening the bottle was a very special occasion.
Reinier described it as a good replacement for Semtex! Finally, we opened the Laudable 15yo 1985/2000 (50%, Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask, 318 bottles).
Everybody on the tasting panel was amazed by the nose - it seemed very different from the medicinal style of the official bottlings.
Jeroen thought is smelled like sour milk, while it reminded Adwy of 'Marc de Bourgogne' or a nice French cheese. Reinier thought it was
a shizofrenic malt. I decided on a preliminary rating of 86 points; the taste is wonderful but the nose lacks the powerful iodine character I've come to expect from a bottle of Laphroiaig.
Nose: Surprisingly fruity! Iodine in the background, growing stronger.
Smoke and tar. Licorice. Wonderful complexity. Laphroaig power with a fruity bonus.
It becomes friendlier with some water; nuttier with more organic notes.
Taste: Ooomp! Iodine! Peppery. Smoky smoothness. Lots of peat in the finish
Really wonderful stuff; the absolute winner of the evening so far.
Sweeter and more complex after adding some water, but still very powerful.
Yeah - it's hightly combustable allright. I decided on a rating of 90 points because it marries the qualities of the normal strength 10
and 15. It has the power of the 10 combined with the finesse of the 15. A wonderful alternative for the ordinary 10 because it lacks
some of its minor shortcomings in the nose and palate. It's a shame it's a lot less affordable than the 'standard' tenner.
Nose: Is this a Laphroaig? No iodine in the nose at first. Yeast? Sour cream? Musty? Quity spirity, numbing the nose. Grappa? Oily like Tobermory or Isle of Jura. After a few minutes, the iodine becomes a little more obvious. Briny.
It may change after a few weeks in an open bottle.
Taste: Rather sweet in the start, growing into a peaty burn. Smooth & gritty.
Iodine. Salt and smoke. Brine. Very powerful after a few minutes. Good stuff.
Maybe I should try and sampe it more open-minded next time...
Now we've tasted all the malts on the menu.
Check out the overview of the ratings of the panel;
Laphroaig Mini-Matrix |
||||||
Reinier |
Jeroen |
Arthur |
Adwy |
Jennifer |
Johannes |
|
10 yrs. ODB |
88 |
77 |
75 |
77 |
77 |
86 |
10 yrs. ODB C/S |
85 |
85 |
65 |
79 |
76 |
90 |
15 yrs. ODB |
82 |
75 |
70 |
81 |
86 |
88 |
15 yrs. OMC |
83 |
63 |
65 |
71 |
79 |
86 |
I think these ratings prove that most members of the tasting panel - with maybe the exception of Reinier - were no die-hard Islay
fans. Not to worry; I poured them a couple of more 'mainstream' malts while I took a little break from the JOLT. We sampled
Springbank 21, Aberlour A'bunadh and Port Ellen 1981 from my collection and two versions of Caol Ila Arthur had brought with him; the
Caol Ila 26yo 1974 (50%, Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask) and the Caol Ila 21yo 1975 (61.3%, UD Rare Malts). Arthur also brough a bottle of a Turkish single malt: Ankara. After the Laphroaig violence, I'm sad that I couldn't pick up very much.
Nose: Not bad!
Taste: Bad.
Well - that was fun.
After my last guests left around 1:00 AM and my nose had some time to recuperate, I checked my e-mail and closed the evening with two H2H sessions, revisiting
the four Laphroaigs of tonight.
Laphroaig 10yo (43%, OB) vs Laphroaig 15yo (43%, OB)
Nose: The medicinal / iodine character of the 10 is a lot sttronger than that of the 15. Vegetables in the 15? The 10 seems more
chemical, the 15 more organic. The 15 is a lot sweeter at first, but after a while the 10 seems to catch up with fruitier notes. Dust in the 10? The 15 grows oilier with time.
Taste: The 10 has a wonderful smoky & peaty burn that numbs the tongue. The 15 starts softer, but grows just as powerful after a
few seconds. It's somewhat 'fuller' than the palate of the 10, with a little more development. Based on this H2H, I'll maintain the current ratings of 86 and 88 points.
Laphroaig 10yo 'Cask Strength' (57.3%, OB) vs Laphroaig 15yo 1985/2000 (50%, OMC)
Nose: The OMC really didn't seem like a Laphroaig next to the peaty power of the 10 C/S.
The OMC appeared oily with a light flowery sweetness. It's pleasant, but not at all what I expected.
The 10 C/S is the big winner here; the OMC seems more like a Caol Ila or Port Ellen in comparison.
Taste: No half measures with the 10 C/S. Numbing. The OMC performs excellently as well - the nose lacks some of the trademark
Laphroaig features but the taste is just as medicinal as the C/S. The 10yo C/S is a malt with the individuality of the normal 10 and the
complexity of the 15. The best of both worlds - the rating of 90 points is final. The 15 OMC ends up with 85 points.
In conclusion: The Laphroaig 10yo ODB Cask Strength was the best whisky of the evening, as far as I'm concerned. No, let me rephraze that - the 10yo C/S was the whisky I personally liked the most. I absolutely love the 'standard strength' 10 and 15, but both show some tiny 'flaws' that keep it from reaching the 90 points benchmark. The 10yo is just a little too single minded, while the 15
lacks the overwhelming Islay power I like in the 10. The 10yo Cask Strength has everything I love in both malts, and none of their
shortcomings. Single malt experts might very well argue that, objectively speaking, the 15 ODB (or the 15 OMC for that matter) are 'better' whiskies because they are more balanced and refined. Phew - it's 3:15 PM. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yeah, well... I'll just follow my own sensory compass.
Time to call it a night. I think this was an evening very well spent.
'American Laphroaig JOLT Report' by Louis Perlman
For the last few weeks, it was anything but Laphroaig weather, but the temperature finally headed south by the end of last week, stopping just a bit short of freezing. I was able to sample six 'froygs. My list included:
My methodology was to compare the distillery 10yo to each of the competitors, save for Cadenhead. For all but the Blackadder, which I had just opened, there were no surprises, as I was familiar with all of the other expressions. Laphroaig 10yo (40%, OB) - A slightly oily body which extends to the palate, with the peat and iodine on the nose. I also detect a
bit the 'tarred rope phenol' that Michael Jackson ascribes to the Cask Strength. One minor flaw, a slight watery-ness to the body that probably comes from chill filtering. I'm sticking with my 84 rating, see the conclusion for why.
Laphroaig 10yo Cask Strength (57.3%, OB) - Everything the 10 does but more of it. Laphroaig 15yo (43%, OB) - Although my bottle is 3 years old, it hasn't deteriorated, and in fact, is the same or very close to the
way it was at first. The whisky is very dry, and there is what the booklet that comes with the bottle called nuttiness, and Michael
Jackson calls grassiness. I can actually detect a bit of both. This, combined with the dryness, results in a very intense dram. Also an extra rating point, but some people who like the 10 may hate this stuff. Laphroaig 9yo
(46%, Murray McDavid) - Like a velvet covered boxing glove. All of the elements are there, but better behaved that
in the distillery offerrings. I'd say the Murray McDavid is better balanced, but that's not what Laphroaig is necessarily about. It would probably be heresy to rate this higher than any distillery version, so I'll continue my 85 streak.
Laphroaig 12yo 1988 (45%, Blackadder) - First of all, the whisky was pale straw in color. It certainly seems as though caramel
coloring is used in the distillery 10 and CS, if not the 15. As for the taste, here was the only element of surprise. Had the 12 'used the
extra 2 years to become even meaner', as Klauss so aptly described the OMC Laudable, or did it mellow out a bit. It was the latter as
it turned out. There was a more iodine on the nose, but the whisky was rather mellow, the least intense of the batch. My wife the
Islay hater tried to wave away the glass, but I insisted that she try some anyway. 'It tastes better than it smells' was her reply. Not bad, but I prefer the Murray McDavid for just a few dollars more. Laphroaig 12yo 1984
(58.9%, Cadenhead's) - This was the big winner of my Peat Monster Bash a while ago, and with some more
time to break in, it became better balanced without losing any of it's intensity. Last year I felt that it mimicked the 15's character, but
it now has elements of both the 10 and 15. I'll have to go back and do another round with my Port Ellen 22 yr Scott's Selection. This
bottling is no longer available (although I know whee a bottle or two might be left in NYC, contact me if you are interested), but there is now a Cadenhead 10yr that isn't too hard to find.
As for rankings, the Cadenhead rocks, followed by the CS and Murray McDavid, although the order for those two depends on the
weather. I suppose I should always have a bottle of the distillery 10 around, although this bottle now resides at my parents home (I
took home enough for the JOLT). It's not likely that I'm going to replace my 15, but that's because I'm trying to keep the population of open bottles down. And the Blackadder is just a bit too much out of character, IMHO.
One point in conclusion. I'm not as big a fan of Laphroaig as some of the other maniacs, as I prefer Ardbeg by a large margin and also
the Bowmore Mariner. My personal opinion is that Laphroaig is a specialized malt, outstanding on those damp and chilly nights, but less welcome otherwise. But that's just MY opinion. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- Laphroaig 10yo OB
- Laphroaig 10yo OB Cask Strength
- Laphroaig 15yo OB
- Laphroaig 9yo Murray McDavid
- Laphroaig 12yo Blackadder
- Laphroaig 12yo Cadenhead
So here goes:
The body is a bit rough, common to many cask strength bottlings, but no more than a few drops of water. This stuff is supposed to be
nasty. One more point than the 10.
'Malt Madness Canada JOLT' by Davin De Kergommeaux
December 22, 2001
I suppose most of the other maniacs are done by now, but here in Canada it's 6:10 pm.
It's pleasant and if I remember it will get even better if I wait... and it has.
Hey, did the cat pee in here?
Done: With water the nose becomes grassy, mildly sour and the smoke is greatly subdued. Just a hint of alcohol, and memories of
rotting hardwood make low-key appearances. The palate too has changed. Is this what they call opening up? Black licorice has
joined the flavours and the smoke remains subdued. A quickly disappearing flash of metal just crossed my mouth, but I can't find it
again. Fresh grassiness now moves to the fore. The finish becomes woody and smoky. It's mild and subtle and I doubt it would last until morning. My Malt Madness Matrix rating remains a well-deserved 92.
On to plonk number two, the standard issue Laphroaig 10yo (40%, OB), again in the North American 750 ml bottle. Klaus told me
there are only two colours of Laphroaig, and so far he's right. In my little room, by colour alone, this is indistinguishable from the 15
yo. They use caramel to colour Laphroaig Klaus advises. In Germany this must be listed on the label so the secret can't be kept. I
guess in a subtle malt the caramel probably colours the flavour as well, but this mighty 10 year old could disguise a Stilton!
Louis has just signed in with his JOLT notes and he too finds an iodine note that just seems to elude me tonight. A few drops of water
have really diluted the palate, reducing it to a wonderful warm smoky spiciness that just warms the tongue on this very xmassy
evening. Gee, I might just have a real one when this JOLT is complete, and then take the dog for a walk in the snow! The finish is
long and smoky and medicinal. As I said, Laphroaig standard issue. I was initially tempted to nudge it up a point or two, but after a good long tasting the 89 in the Malt Maniacs Matrix remains. And now the
Laphroaig 10yo Cask Strength (57.3%, OB) in a 35 cl duty free bottling. No plonk as I break this one open, it's a
screw cap. And yes, it's the same gold as the others. Looks like Laphroaig has got whisky colouring down to a science.
As Louis says, its everything the 10yo is and then some. Medicine, antiseptic, tar, smoke, but so far no malt. There's a growing,
watery sweetness in the back of the mouth. The finish though seems to fade out early. It's still long though and delectable. With
water, a grassiness emerges in the nose, as do a range of esters. Suddenly you can smell the alcohol. The tar is still there. It's
smoky, still smokier than the 10yo 40% abv version. And it's still rich and syrupy in the mouth, but now the malts join the phenolic smoke. This is a great malt, and it's in a screw cap, so I'll have to drink it up!!
It's 8:48, two and a half hours since this tasting started and now that I've tasted all three of the OB's one final comparison. Head to
head, the CS has the most powerful and smoky nose. Though still very smoky, the 10yo adds a strong overtone of malt. Compared
to the others the nose of the 15yo is just a cereal mash. I liked them all and rated them all highly, but it's complexity pushed the 15
yo over the 90-point threshold, the CS is just on the line while the 10yo remains a fabulous malt for a wintery night. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My first plonk has just sounded, more of a thwack really as I popped the cork on the first of three virgins I will initiate tonight: the Laphroaig 15yo
(43%, OB). Klaus has just sent me a note to comment on the Canadian winter, and yes, this is a Laphroaig night;
cold and clear. I've tried the 15yo before, with Johannes in fact, but I didn't remember such a rich almost orangy golden colour. The
official notes call it a deep rich gold, The nose says Laphroaig, it's rich, tarry, peaty and just a little bit dusty in the nosing glass. A deep full breath jolts your nose awake, only to anaesthetize it with esters and alcohol.
Malt, dairy barn and fresh silage have joined the smoke and tar. And there's another something way in the background that says cigar
box one minute and walnuts the next. Let's see what the folks at Laphroaig think I should smell. Ah… officially (and this is an OB) the
nose is mildly smoky, toasty and pleasantly sweet, like new hay. Well, I guess if you drink the 10yo daily the smoke is mild, but to me,
it's right out front; and that hay is there all right, but it sure ain't fresh. Now, some ten minutes after pouring my dram, the nose has settled into a peaty (smoky) mildly fruity, maltiness, with a background hint of sourness.
It's redundant to call the palate signature Laphroaig, but it's all there, smoke, rubber, yes rubber, a flash of oiliness. It burns with hot
spices. The middle becomes astringent and some woody notes emerge. Wow, what a malt. It's like three malts in the same bottle
and the palate shifts ineluctably among them. Now smoke, now a sweetish nutty malt and under it all a woody spice. Officially, it's a
full-bodied, suave malt with zesty oak and warm peat smoke top notes and sweet undertones reminiscent of fresh nutmeg and toasted
almonds. Faintly salty. Are these the cigar box walnuts I tasted? Anyhow, the distillery recommends to awaken the full bouquet of this sublime single malt, add a few drops of soft water and swirl gently in the glass.
The nose is immediately drier, medicinal and really smells like the seashore. No salt in there (cryptic note to Peter Wood) but definitely
some seaweed. By golly! That's Laphroaig you smell when you walk the sea wall around Stanley Park in Vancouver. Nose prickle only
on a long, deep nosing. Has my nose temporarily abandoned me? Suddenly I smell nothing but medicine, then a pleasant licorice and
tobacco flood in and I'm back to Laphroaig. One of the difficult parts of tasting malts is giving the nose enough time to develop, but
my wait has been rewarded as the malt and hay have begun to emerge. And finally, a strong hint of linseed oil comes to the fore. The
Laphroaig website www.laphroaig.com says the nose should be phenolic - seaweedy - very peaty with a hint of sweetness.
The palate is much sweeter than the 15 yo and much smokier. It's oily in the mouth and quite strong. Spicy on the tongue. It hits
like a hammer, unlike its more ingratiating older brother. I like this malt. It's rough and raw. I've been drinking Ardbegs lately and have
been saving my three unopened Laphroaigs for tonight and had forgotten just how great they are. The website says I should be
tasting a malt that is richly smoky - fully peated with a hint of sweetness – salty. Well, still no salt, but lots of ocean. It's fully
peated alright and that sweetness is way more than a hint. And now for the very first time I can just smell the mintiness that Klaus
has been telling me about. In fact it almost develops into a wintergreen scent. And now it's gone, hidden behind a nutty maltiness.
With water the nose yields malts, grass and licorice. Yes the phenols are all there, but I'm starting to be able to dissect them.
Nose: Very smoky, fresh and you can smell the alcohol. A deep whiff clears the sinuses pronto. The phenols come to the fore, but
this starts out much more subdued than I had expected. Hey, this is my first encounter with this malt, so another one for my 52 Challenge! I smell tar and horse liniment and oh yeah, the licorice is back.
You know, you probably could use this stuff to disinfect wounds.
Palate: Rich, round and packs a wallop! The alcohol burns the tongue - it's almost painful, but there is no hint of it in the flavour.
No, that's all smoke. It's got that strange oily yet astringent mouth feel and it's thick and syrupy.
This is fabulous. A few of these would put your lips to sleep alright.
For now it gets a nominal score of 89.99, which I'll round off to two significant digits - 90 points.
Now back to my Laphroaigs for a couple of unstudied drams.
'Kick Off JOLT' by Patrick Whaley
Initially, I only planned on tasting the 10yo for the JOLT. Laphroaig 10yo (40%, OB)
Oh this is the stuff, such a deep complex malt, and so marvelous! This malt completely coats the mouth, great mouth feel. What a
finish, the peat doesn't seem to fade and you can keep feeling tingling in your mouth. The cloves seem to be a late development.
The 10yo doesn't have the very pronounced note of black licorice like the 15yo. Definitely a deep malt. An incredible whisky. Laphroaig 15yo (43%, OB)
The nose is much more sweeter than the 10yo, but its not as powerful. At times, the nose of the 15yo seems to be more
concentrated. There is something else in the nose that I can't identify. The finish just about knocked me over, it is way more intense
than the 10yo. This malt seems to become more complex the longer it is in the glass. I still can't believe the finish, it is just huge, powerful, amazing, and worth the price of admission. This is an incredible whisky.
Final Thoughts - This was truly phenomenal, what a great way to kick off JOLT. I now remember why these two malts are great, I
can't wait to have another go with them. I think it is strange how two malts from the same distillery can have some similarities but
simultaneously carry such differences. You can definitely see the typical Laphroaig trademarks of peat, smoke, and salt. Then, the
two malts have these little differences. I was extremely surprised that the 15yo had a bigger, more intense finish, and I definitely
wasn't ready for it. For now, my scores will remain the same, 95 for the 15yo, and 94 for the 10yo. I could easily score them as
equal, I really don't prefer one over the other. When things are this great, it is hard to judge. They are both all around incredible. I give the 15yo and extra point for the finish.
Maybe after I have more time with them I can come up with some more conclusions. I don't know, that would be a lot to handle... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I kept thinking that it would be great if I could also taste the 15yo with it, so I couldn't help myself and I got a bottle. I knew that
this was going to be very fun and very tasty. The Laphroaigs were some of the first malts that I tried. It has been quite some time
since I have had either. I have tasting notes from the 15yo from the first time I tried it but I haven't looked at them. I can vividly
remember my experiences with both of them, actually remembering how powerful and peaty they are. I was also hoping that perhaps
I could pick up some nuances this time around. When I first started writing for Malt Madness, Johannes told me that your nose and
palate get better with experience. This time, I wanted to probe the depths of the glass to see what I could find.
Nose: peaty, smoky, salty, strong, cloves, traces of iodine
Palate: rich, sweet, smooth, clingy, thick, meaty
Finish: long, huge, intense, peaty, sweet
Nose: dry, very sweet, black licorice, mint, some salt, sulfur
Palate: some dryness, salty, sweet, rich, touch of sulfur
Finish: amazing peaty finish, huge peat attack, extremely intense,
medicinal, dry, power and more power
I wonder what the next encounter will bring, what new nuances will I discover. I'm tempted to compare the Laphroaigs with
Lagavulin. If the Laphroaigs left this kind of impression on me, maybe Lagavulin will lose its top spot.
'Little Laphroaig JOLT' by Klaus Everding
Hello everybody, Only 3 'phroaigs on my table for the first JOLT. Laphroaig 15yo Laphroaig 10yo Laphroaig 10yo c/s
Peaty christmas and a malty new year, Klaus - - - - -
It really deserves a higher rating. I think I should rate it almost as high as the 10 yo. The 15yo is more delicious and finer, more
civilized. This speaks for a higher score for the 15y. But the 10yo has that hard to define anti-stormy weather component, the brute
force and the dark sweet and peaty tides. The more I think about it, the more I come to the point that this component is more important for me. The implication 93 points for the 15yo.
My medicine. Hoops! The glass is empty. Must fill it again.
This evening I have discovered that the c/s is sharper. What a miracle the alcohol content is higher. Now I tried to dilute it to
approximately 43%. And now there are differences between the 10yo c/s and the standard 10yo which cannot be ignored. The c/s is sweeter and the tary and smoky aroma is reduced in favour of peat. Still the two malts are very similar.
Click HERE for an overview of other articles in MM#1.
Also on this second page of MM#01: the Laphroaig JOLT Transcript.
On December 22, 2001 we organised our very first JOLT (Joint On-Lone Tasting).
Unlike later JOLTS, we didn't make a 'live' transcript of our e-mail chatter about the results.
Instead, you'll find seperate reports by Klaus Everding, Louis Perlman, Patrick Whaley, Davin de Kergommeaux
and
yours truly.
Some time before the actual launch
of Malt Maniacs (in August 2000, to be
precise) our dashing American foreign
correspondent Patrick Whaley did an
interview with Mr. Derek M. Gilchrist,
Morrison Bowmore's Marketing Director.
Mr. Gilchrist was very candid indeed...
... of MM Issue #01
Click HERE for more malt mania!