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Wednesday, April 13, 2016

It's a Laphroaig Cask Strength Taste Off! Batch 005 versus Batch 006

Some of you may be wondering, "How many times is this bastard going to review Laphroaig CS batch 005?!"  I'm all out of that whisky now, so this will be the last time, I promise.

Laphroaig CS Batch 005 was an odd misstep in a very high quality series of whiskys.  A big raw Kildalton malt in your face, the Laphroaig CS was always reliable in its first four numbered batches (and in the batches that came before the numbered ones).  Batch 005 was weird.  It wasn't particularly peaty, but was oaky and sweet instead.  Air and time in the bottle did not help it one bit, though watering it down to 48% did assist a little.  The fact that Batch 005 dropped at the same time that Laphroaig began expanding their range with more oak and wine focused NAS releases was additionally concerning to some of us Laphroaig fans.  So we waited, dearly hoping to find out that Batch 006 would be better, or else we'd all have to start shilling out $120 for Lagavulin 12.



BATCH 005
Distillery: Laphroaig
Owner: Beam Suntory
Type: Single Malt
Region: Islay
Maturation: ex-bourbon barrels
Age: minimum 10 years
Batch: 005, Feb 2013
Chill-filtration? No
Caramel colored? Probably not
Alcohol by Volume: 57.2%
Sample taken from my own bottle

NEAT
The nose begins with vanilla cookies and a mossiness reminiscent of Compass Box's Peat Monster.  Then there's cinnamon, band aids, anise, and a teeny bit of kumquat.  Then grass clippings with brief moments of peaches and flowers.  Overall, it smells very sugary.

Small notes of salty seaweed and cinnamon start off the palate only to be run off the whisky road by some ash and LOTS of sugar.  There's a vinegar tang to it.  Maybe some menthol.  Peat encased in a sugar glaze.  The politest, though tooth-rottingest Laphroaig CS ever.

The finish is sweet, heat, and peat, in that order.  Some lemon sourness in the back, or maybe that's the vinegar note.  Salt and menthol.  Decent length.

WITH WATER (~48%abv)
White flour and peat candy in the nose.  More barley, less vanilla.  Peach candy, maybe some blackberry candy too.

The palate gets very green, like vegetation, moss, and an herbal bitterness.  Candied smoke.  Aggressively sweet.

It finishes sweet and tangy with candied smoke.

COMMENTS:
Huh.  This time when I dropped it to 48%abv it became even sweeter than when neat.  When it's neat it's just not very Laphroaig-ish, let alone cask strength Laphroaig-ish.  Just a young sugar bomb of unknown origin.  The oak is loudest in the nose, though a little tamer than the last time I tried it.  It's not terrible, but there's not much to recommend about it unless one is dying to have a super sugary Laphroaig.  There are so many better cask strength peaty options out there, and not only from Laphroaig.
RATING: 80 (with or without water)



BATCH 006
Distillery: Laphroaig
Owner: Beam Suntory
Type: Single Malt
Region: Islay
Maturation: ex-bourbon barrels
Age: minimum 10 years
Batch: 006, Feb 2014
Chill-filtration? No
Caramel colored? Probably not
Alcohol by Volume: 58.0%
Sample taken from OC Scotch Club event

NEAT
The nose is very farmy at first.  Then it opens up after a few minutes.  Limes and mango juice.  Mothballs, hydrocortisone cream, and Bengay cream.  Aloe and pine needles.  Rotting seaweed.  After 20+ minutes in the glass, the whisky develops a sour milk note that slowly changes into vanilla frosting.

The palate is sweet and spicy and toasty.  More of the classic Laphroaig reek than the 005, but it's still toned down.  It's very vegetal, maybe even seaweed and fresh cabbage.  Oooh, finally, the iodine!  Then wood spice and lots of acidic lime juice.

Lots of salt in the finish.  Smoke and seaweed.  A bit acidic, a little sweet, and some vanilla hiding in there.  Good length.

WITH WATER (~48%abv)
A nice fruitiness now appears in the nose, mingling with a soft peating, reminiscent of the official 18 year old.  Some cinnamon custard.  Both doughy and salty.  A dingy medicinal note in the back.

The palate becomes very focused.  All sharp tart lime notes and raw biting peat.

Earth, salt, and cigarettes in the finish.

COMMENTS:
Though the names "Almost There" and "Work In Progress" belong to other companies' whiskys, they would be appropriate for this batch of Laphroaig Cask Strength.  This was a good rebound following batch 005.  It has a bit of the pure Laphroaig character that previous batches featured.  There's less oak and sugar than the 005, though it's not totally absent yet.  But it's getting much closer to what Laphroaig fans look for and expect.  I like it much better when it's reduced to 48%abv, but it finishes well either way.
RATING: 86 (with water)



FINAL THOUGHTS:
Yes, #006 is a full step up from #005, thank goodness.  There's still room for improvement (like please tone down the sweets!), but I'm going to try to be an optimist here and hope #006 is a sign of better batches to come.  Oliver at Dramming.com had good things to say about Batch 007, so maybe things are on the right path.  In any case, if you're a Laphroaig geek and you have the opportunity to choose between a bottle of batch 005 or 006, I recommend going with the latter.  Or maybe you can dive blindly into #007.  If you've had that batch, please let me know in the comments what you thought of it.