Laphroaig Quarter Cask Review

Hi everyone,

How have I managed to skip this one?

So this is a very famous bottle that was a great deal at £26 from Asda. Sadly it’s not discounted much these days.

It’s a Laphroaig at a higher strength, finished in smaller quarter casks. A quarter cask is a quarter of a 500L Butt, so 125L. These smaller casks have a greater surface area to whisky ratio and therefore should mature the whisky a bit faster too.

My first taste of this was in France, at a bar, along with Bunna 12. This just about got ahead of the Bunna, which I gave 75.

Laphroaig Quarter Cask 48%

Colour: E150a

Body: Full

Nose: Sweet, smoky malt, some nut, chocolate, burnt sugar, burning twigs, wet grass, some hay, treacle toffee, savoury note- Smoked ham, mineral note- Flint, charcoal, coal.

Water: Honey and vanilla emerge, lots of cream, chocolatey malt, more fruit- Baked apple, burnt pastry (strudel), twiggy peat fires burning in the background. Herbal/perfume note lurking in there- Mint and flower pollen?

Taste: Mouth coating. Salty smoke, then savoury with smoked ham, then sweet, then back to smoky with earthy peat. Very clear evolution of flavours, great form.

Water: More soft, creamy arrival, mineral note- Flint, charcoal, coal. Then burning hay, wet grass, rich earthy peat and coal fires. Savoury salty note- Kippers and bacon. Strong malty note still here too.

Finish: Medium length. Sweet notes mingle nicely with earthy peat.

Very well put together, balanced flavours with excellent direction and pace. A real step up from the 10yo.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #435

Whisky Network Review #495

Network Average: 74.3

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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