Thanks to /u/xile_ for pouring me this dram.
How do you end an epic tasting that includes good steak, beef bacon, sausages, and staring into the abyss? Why with a Laphroaig of course!
Laphroaig 20 1996 Adelphi is to round out the tasting. And since it’s from Adelphi, I’m lucky that they listed the alcohol the information is so sparse.
So let’s just get to it, shall we?
Price: Sold out
Region: Islay
Vintage: 1996
Bottled: 2017
Cask Number: 6581
Number of bottles: 484
Abv: 57.1%
Colour: 7.5Y 9/8
Nose: Gengal, plantains, rubber, cocoa, sea air, visiting the ocean on a windy day
It starts off with wonderful heat. Kinda like ginger but hotter, as in pho. Good tropical starch notes, lovely rubber and earthy sweetness.
Water opens up to a lovely nice brine that builds and builds and makes you long for the beach. Or wherever you go when you hate the beach. The docks?
Taste: Fresh mint, homemade truffles, mineral, nectarine cobbler
Punchy herbal note, rich chocolate, and sadly not as a developed mineral note. That said… when everything is complex and powerful, perhaps just being some mineral notes is okay. Salt goes a long way. Just look at bourbon reviewers.
Finish: Honeydew melons, caramel, peach, brownies, banana, a full herb garden
So the finish starts out almost simple. But it grows more and more. At first, I was a bit disappointed, but as I drank more (because seriously that taste is great) it caught up. Water goes a mile and a half for the finish.
Conclusion: Herbal, balanced, really complex. Chocolate, banana, rubber, cream/butter. This is the type of whisky where reviewers have to shut up after a bit, otherwise, we’ll make asses of ourselves. See above. Maybe.
If you sadly missed the amount of Laphroaig that came out a few years ago from independent bottlers then this is what you were missing. This is the type of dram you shouldn’t turn down, and what the rest of us are trying to find each time we buy a Laphroaig these days.
88/100
Scotch review #1160, Islay review #309, Whisky review #1786
tomoderawhisky.ca 
Reblogged this on Toronto Whisky Society.
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