[WHISKY] Laphroaig 15 (200th Anniversary Edition) - A Story of Violent Death and Bitter Rivalry 🥃

To celebrate its 200th anniversary Laphroaig re-launched an old classic malt in a limited edition of 72,000 bottles in 2015 - the 15 year old that was replaced by an 18 year old in 2008. Many had complained that they were missing the milder and more elegant side of Laphroaig so they chose to model the 200th anniversary edition after the old 15-year-old and bottle it at 43% with the exact same "recipe" as before, aged exclusively in ex-bourbon casks from Makers Mark, hand selected by Master Distiller John Campbell.

Laphroaig is Gaelic and basically means "the beautiful hollow by the broad bay." The distillery is located on the smoke shrouded isle of Islay's southern tip, with neighboring distilleries Lagavulin and Ardbeg. Towering taxes on whisky production led many to produce whisky in home-made stills during the 1800s. The smoke from the whisky production was an unmistakable sign and was used by tax collectors to determine where the next home visit would take place, so many moonshiners began distilling at night to avoid the attention. This was also the case with the founders of Laphroaig. In 1826 brothers Donald and Alexander Johnston obtained the license to distill legally on Laphroaig, but they had produced whisky on the site since 1815.

In 1847, when co-founder Donald died in a dramatic accident - after falling into a vat of boiling ale - his son and only heir Dugald was only 11 and far too young to take over the distillery. Instead, it was leased to Walter Graham, who was also the manager of neighboring Lagavulin. Ten years later, Dugald old enough to take over and ran the distillery until his death in 1877.

According to an old agreement Lagavulin used half of Laphroaig's production in their production of blended whisky. When the agreement expired in 1907 the new ownership of Laphroaig made sure to swiftly end the contract. This was not popular with Lagavulin so they filled Laphroaig's water source with stone. This later became a court case which ended in Laphroaig's favor. But the bitter feud didn't end there. After several failed attempts to buy Laphroaig, Lagavulin managed to buy over the distillery manager of Laphroaig in 1908, in order to copy the design of the copper stills and create an identical whisky. This attempt was however also in vain.

In 1921, Ian Hunter, the son of Alexander's and Donald's sister, took over the business and began a series of changes. The distillery was modernized and its capacity was doubled. Ian ran the distillery until his death in 1954, and as he had no inheritor he decided to hand it over to Bessie Williamson who had been his secretary since the 30s. Since she was very results-oriented, she quickly saw that the company required a strong financial partner if it were to survive. She sold the company to Long John sometime during the 60s. Since then it has changed ownership constellations many times and today it's owned by multinational spirits company Beam Suntory.

Phenols, a class of carbon compounds that gives whisky its smokiness, is measured according to the PPM (parts per million) scale. Peaty or smoky whisky, usually from the isle of Islay, lies somewhere between 20-50 ppm, with some extreme exceptions. The smoky aromas in whisky is achieved by exposing the drying barley grains to the smoke from burning peat bogs. Aroma wise, the Islay peat differs slightly from inland peat in that it's affected by the seaweed and saltwater transported by the strong sea winds. You can read more about the process in this great article: Peat and its significance in whisky.

Laphroaig gets its water that has a natural peat flavor from the Kilbride Dam. Since it runs through granite, all unwanted minerals are filtered out. The barley used is called optic and they malt 30% of it themselves and buy the rest from Port Ellen Maltings. The barley is smoked to around 35 ppm by peat taken from their own bogs on the east side of Loch Indaal. On to the whisky at hand!

Laphroaig 15 Year Old (200th Anniversary Edition)

ABV: 43%

Age: 15yo

Region: Islay

Cask type: Ex-bourbon casks

Price: Around 100 USD / 0.7L

Color: Gold.

Nose: The characteristic clean and sweet Laphroaig smoke greets me, but it's more restrained than usually. Cigar and fine tobacco smoke and tar mixed with caramel and vanilla basically. After a while in the glass, some grassy notes develop. With some water the whisky settles and a whole field of flowers opens up. I think I can also discern some tropical fruit in the back. Beautiful stuff.

Palate: Gentle and sweet smoke at the arrival that first develops into ashy aromas and then is beautifully balanced by grapefruit and tropical fruits such as mango, papaya and passion fruit. After that introduction the fruit that dominates is lemon: lemon drops, limoncello, lemongrass and lemon zest. A veritable lemon festival. I also find iodine and licorice together with the vanilla, butterscotch and tobacco from the nose.

Finish: Long, dry, salty and sweet with plenty of coal smoke.

Conclusion: This is a magnificent and very complex piece of work. Full-bodied and excellently balanced it has both feminine and masculine qualities and it's as enchanting as a sunset over the sea. One of the best Islay whiskies I've ever had. Some minus points for artificial coloring and chill-filtering, but a final score of 93 enamored points out of 100.

If you have any whisky related questions don't be afraid of asking! I'll do my best to answer them. Cheers, or as they say in Scotland: Sláinte!

 @SteemSwede

You can find my other whisky reviews here:

Highland Park 15

Bowmore 12

Springbank 10

Ardbeg TEN

The Macallan Amber

Glenmorangie 10

Bunnahabhain Cruach Mhòna

Linkwood 21 yo, Signatory

Bowmore Black Rock

Glenfarclas, Christmas Edition, 1995

Old Pulteney 21

Glenfiddich 12

Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique, 2016

Caol Ila 12 yo

Linkwood 26 yo

Glenfarclas 105

Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or

Glenlivet 18 yo

Talisker 18 yo

anCnoc Rascan

Glenfarclas 17 yo

Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1

Octomore 5.1 & 6.2