Lauding Laphroaig (Round 5!) Jack Rose Laphroaig Cellar Tasting Review
Background
Laphroaig certainly doesn’t need any fancy introduction, so I’ll instead give a quick but hearty toast to Jack Rose for reopening their basement cellar bar to tastings (and now the bottle shop) again. This speakeasy-esque space has laid dormant since the world shut down. At the start of covid, Jack Rose pulled nearly every bottle (which is a considerable number!) off of their shelf and sold them off to stay afloat and take care of employees. While they’ve since rebuilt their considerable collection, this reopening felt like the last ghost of covid finally exiting the building. It was a relaxed, joyous tasting.
Quick point of order before we get into the reviews, I’ve already review Cairdeas 2023 and Jack Rose’s “Welcome to Islay” pick, which I’ve linked below along with all of my other Laphroaig posts.
Laphroaig Càirdeas 2024 Cask Favourites (10 Years, 52.4%)
Nose: Snack Pack vanilla pudding, with a dash of ash layered on top. It's so vanilla forward, rich and creamy right from the jump! It’s quite alluring, and I don’t remember past Laphroaig’s smelling quite as rich.
Palate: Wow an interesting about face on the palate. Dark wood and dark chocolate layered with a nicely bitter, dark roast coffee. You know how coffee can almost verge on toasty? That's how the peat seems to present to me.
Finish: A robust, lingering chicory coffee note. Black pepper, wood smoke emanating up from a slow burning fire, and hints of dark chocolate.
Excellent (8/10)
Overall: This really sung for me. It’s rich, the PX influence is clearly presenting itself but in a lovely, balanced way. I’m thrilled it’s not overly syrupy, or a raisin bomb, but instead providing this swirl of dark coffee notes around these wafts of peat influence.
Laphroaig Càirdeas Origin 2012 (NAS, 51.2%)
Nose: Oh hellloooo Laphroaig! Lemon peels… honestly it’s part lemon curd, part medicinal lemon cough drops. Vanilla notes, and smoke off a tobacco pipe.
Palate: It would be lazy of me to copy and paste the notes from the nose, but it is a very consistent sip from nose to palate! Ashy, a little creamy, medicinal herbal lemon and iodine notes swirl together.
Finish: More lemon, but this time spritzed across fresh shucked oysters. Iodine and nutmeg.
Great to Excellent (7.5/10)
Overall: CLASSIC- that’s what came to mind for me. This sip is what I envision as what you’d pour for an alien if you wanted to show them what Laphroaig tastes like. I typically get pops of medicinal lemon amidst an ashy, vanilla swirl, and that’s exactly what this gives me.
Laphroaig Cask Strength Batch 3 (10 Years, 55.3%)
Nose: Grape-y? Grape jelly smeared on toast… borderlining on burnt toast. Salted butter, grilled oysters. On the nose it really does smell like there might be some sherry cask in this batch.
Palate: More of that grape and paired some cigarette ash. Hints of medicinal lemon, seaweed and a prominent rock candy note. It’s again a bit fruity and I really wasn’t expecting that.
Finish: That salinity/minerality. Herbaceousness, like aloe. Someone else said eucalyptus, which is better than anything I came up with! It’s definitely herbal at the end.
Great (7/10)
Overall: Someone please correct me if they have any insight into the components of this blend. I do really think there must be a touch of sherry, but I could not find details anywhere confirming that. It’s a fun wrinkle though, turning minerality into more of a rock candy.
SMWS 29.22 “Coal Tar Soap and Geraniums” (10 Years, 61%)
Nose: Slightly burnt fruit cake, including some associated baking spices. Big, medicinal, menthol-y herbaceousness. Salty, chewy, fresh pulled taffy.
Palate: Medicinal mango is not a thing but that's what it reminds me of. Syrup but not too much, pipe tobacco, cinnamon, and lemon peels. It’s fruity, with a wonderful counterbalance of smoky tobacco notes and baking spices.
Finish: Black licorice, cherry cough drops, floral and rose water. More of that saltwater taffy. There’s again a harmony of fruit, sometimes floral notes and this nice Islay salinity.
Incredible (9/10)
Overall: Amazing. Chris Leung, Jack Rose’s lead whisk(e)y adviser, posed the question "blind, would you know it’s Laphroaig?" I would say no, which has me torn because it seems wrong to give a Laphroaig that doesn’t have overtly Laphroaig characteristics such a score… but damn is it delicious any way you slice it, so I’m not going to overthink it too much.
Past Laphroaig Reviews: