Discover Whisky

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been exposed to a mature Laphroaig at way too tender an age when my taste buds were incapable of appreciating it. Since then I’ve only rarely gone back to this revered Islay malt and never in a suitable environment where I could observe it in peace and quiet. Would it still be the rich complex malt that I dimly remembered and which scares many single malt drinkers away to smoother locations?

Laphroaig - 10 years old, 40%

Colour

Mid amber

Nose

Not as strong as I’d expected, slightly medicinal, a touch of iodine.

Taste

Initial taste impression
Rich, warm, peppery, dry-ish (though not as much as the Ardbeg).

Later impressions
Peat, not so much smoke, walnut. Not as complex as I’d expected nor as balanced as the Caol Ila.

First after-taste is long but not particularly distinctive. Later on a warmth at the back of the mouth is evident along with a taste reminiscent of chillies.

After a little water
The addition of even a small amount of water does nothing for this Laphroaig. There seems little in the way of aromatics released and it just tastes like weaker whisky.

Conclusion

To be honest I’m a little disappointed - I was expecting more of a challenge from this famous brand. It’s certainly not bad, indeed far better than many mainland drams (as long as you keep it well away from water!), but not in the class of the Caol Ila or the Ardbeg. Maybe I just got a poor sample - I’ll try ordering one next time I’m in a bar and see if there is any noticeable difference. However on the basis of this tasting I have the feeling that it needs to be stronger or older in order to fully blossom, so I’ll be interested to try one of the “specials” in later tastings.

Due to the joys of our local council I’ve been without a web connection for about ten days at home - someone cut a cable and being with Virgin Media that causes us some problems. Duly we’re a little behind in terms of posting schedule. So just to let everyone know we’ll have everything back up to date in about two weeks.

My review of the Ancnoc will be going up on Sunday and the Glenmorangie ‘Qunita Ruban’ on Thursday.Sorry for any confusion from all of us at Discover Whisky.

On a cheerier note I’d like to say a big thanks to Ralph Warth - not only did he blog roll us over at The Whisky Investor, I’m getting better with this online lingo, but he also joined our wee whisky network. I’ve had a wee read of his blog and it’s looking good - some of it’s in German so I may have to work up to reading these dictionary in hand.

Everyone is welcome over at the Scotch Whisky Network. We are trying to set up a group on Facebook also so keep ‘em peeled for when this goes live.

This week there have been a few things going on about whisky - I’m glad to say. Below are some of the highlights from our point of view.

Australian Court Case over Naming of Whisky

Down under the court has been deciding in the case between ‘Glenn Oaks’ and the Scottish Whisky Association (SWA). The SWA petitioned the court that the use of the word ‘Glenn’ in the name of this Australian Whisky was alluding to the Whisky being from Scotland as is used in brands such as Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie and Glenlivet.

The court ruled in favour of the SWA - full discussion can be found here (you need to scroll down a bit to get to this ruling).

The Wild Scotsman

Fantastic name for a site about Whisky- the Wild Scotsman. Until this week I’d never heard about it. Steadily over lunch this week I’ve been having a wee wander round the site and I’ve picked out a few of my favourite pieces:

• The Night Before Xmas - Retold
• A review of a distillery in Sweden

Whisky Blog Post of the Week

Dr Whisky is again doing reviews of whiskies at an alarming rate of knots! It’s probably just jealousy on my part more than anything :p The Dr Whisky review of the Benromach Organic Whisky has made me want to go out and buy some of this for a friend’s birthday - seems right up his street.

Slainte

Yesterday I got a nice email from Mark Reyner over at Bruichladdich. I’d been trying to use their website contact system for a while to get in contact but had been stopped due to the system of ‘pop up’ windows that are generated when you select who you want to contact. My web development conmpany got the email for me.

Anyway part of the email I received was about the Bruichladdich Blog - I didn’t even know that they had one. It can be found at http://web.mac.com/realmalt/Site/Blog/Blog.html. They have an RSS feed here too which makes it really easy to get updates to your inbox.

Slainte