Review #39 - Laphroaig 10 Year Sherry Oak Finish
Laphroaig Wine + Peat Mini-Series: Part 1 of 3
This next series will focus on one of our favorite combinations in the world of Scotch: peated spirit and sherry/wine cask finishing. Originally, we were going to do a series that included this combination from several Islay distilleries, but we ended up with enough bottles from Laphroaig to make it a standalone affair. Laphroaig is also one of our favorite brands in Scotch, so we don't mind spending some extra time with it.
As we mentioned, the combination of peat and rich ex-wine maturation or finishing is one of the standout styles of Scotch in our minds - it originally got us into the whisky hobby, via Lagavulin 16. Something about those dark smoky fruits, the seaside brine, and the meaty or saucy barbecue notes makes it irresistible to our palates, so we have ended up with quite a few of this type on our shelf. Each distillery does it a little bit differently as well, which makes it fun to continue to explore.
Laphroaig's usual brine, ashy peat, and medicinal notes will add their own twist to the ex-sherry or ex-wine cask whisky formula, and we're excited to see how these sharper flavors interact with the often more subtle and deep cask notes. First up: the 10 Year Sherry Oak Finish, which takes the standard Laphroaig 10 Year, finishes it in Oloroso sherry casks, and bottles it at a more generous 48% ABV. Considering how tasty the standard 10 Year is, this should be a treat.
Laphroaig 10 Year Sherry Oak Finish
Scotland/Islay - Single Malt
Price Paid: USD 75 (2021)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 80 (2023)
Age Statement: 10 Years
Strength: 48% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 13 months; bottles at 100%, 75%, 40%, and 30% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Lots of rich, inky red and purple fruit to start out. It's strawberries, blackberry preserve, plum, and prune; even raspberry and cherry, a rich dark Luxardo cherry. There is a little bit of the citrus we find sometimes in Laphroaig, but now it's more like a charred orange rind, which is right in line with the barbecue notes and plentiful peat smoke. Freshly burned firewood, even bordering on ashy at times, and there is a decent amount of oak in this. That barbecue can come across like pulled pork at times, and others it's more of the wood smoke; there are a few lingering notes still, lots of layers to this. Sweetness from molasses and wood sugars, red wine, and a decent amount of salt, which moves toward a rubbery note. We end with just a bit of dark chocolate.
Palate: Mouthfeel is medium thickness starting out, and this is a bomb of red fruits, chocolate, and smoke. Cocoa or spiced chocolate, some milk chocolate covered acai berries, sweet raspberry, cherry jam, and glazed strawberries. The peat is nice and pungent, coming with some earthy and mossy flavors, and later some wood smoke and char as well; still, it's a bit more tamed and rounded than the standard 10 year release in that respect. Along with the wood smoke, the oak is contributing some vanilla, a bit of oak spice, and it adds a nice dry balance against the sweet fruits. There is a savory side to this, too - just a hint of barbecue, some orange fruit, and mulled wine. We finish it off with the classic Laphroaig characteristics of ash and coastal salt.
Finish: The finish here is medium-long, there is a little bit of astringency coming in from the oak tannins, it's a little bit more dry now overall. The peat hangs around for a while, slowly trailing off pleasantly, and is backed up by more of that wood smoke. On the sweeter side, we find lemon and orangey fruit, strawberries once again, and then it ventures into darker territory, dark purple dried fruits. Quite well rounded overall, and we finish with some sugary red fruit candies.
Final Note: Nice, really nice, and for a solid price, too, considering where the Scotch market has gone in the past few years. Yes, $80ish is still expensive for a 10 year age statement, but this has sherry maturation and a bump up in ABV, and it is absolutely loaded with flavor; we would not hesitate to buy another bottle, and this has decent availability in our market, which always helps. Definitely recommended if you're into the peated profile, especially if you love that peat + sherry combination.
Our Average Rating: 8.0 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 7.47
