Laphroaig Cask Strength 10 Year Old

I have only ever had this once and it was the miniature they gave me at the distillery in 2011. Loved it then but haven't seen it since. Thank you @Victor, I now know for sure that I need to get hold of some of this lovely stuff. Meanwhile I must be content with 2015 Cairdeas, QC, and the fabulous 18 (which I am savouring as I write.) Cheers.

@BlueNote, thanks for joining in. For some reason most of Canada doesn't seem to get distribution of Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength. You already have a lot of other good options, because all of those you have mentioned are very much worth having as well. I think that you will be pleased when you do get some bottles of the 10 Cask Strength to add to your collection. Laphroaig ranks near the top for me among distilleries in consistency of high quality of their products. Some you will like more than others, but so far I have never seen a really bad one.

@Victor,

Are you suggesting that SOME of Canada does have access to Laphroaig CS? If so, TELL ME WHERE!!!! PLEASE!

@Nozinan, no, I don't know of any province in Canada which gets distribution of Laphroaig 10 CS, but I didn't make the form of my statement absolute, because I was not certain that the absence of Laphroaig 10 CS was applicable to ALL of the provinces.

@Victor I am glad that I grab a Laph 10 CS when I was in Washington, unfortunately it is batch 6. I am sure it is good but you had me dreaming of a great one with batch 7. Did you have that batch and if so how would you compare it to batch 7?.

@Nozinan If I ever see it in Quebec, I let you know. I remember that I missed a good one a few months ago that last for about a day on the SAQ net site, but I am note sure it was that one. The lesson I learned is I have to check up on wednesday night for new arrival and be ready to buy those popular and good ones.

@Robert99, I own a bottle of Batch # 006, but I haven't opened it yet. I have only tasted one sample from that batch, and my first impression was that it was below average for Lpahroaig 10 CS. My friend and consultant in all things Laphroaig and Ardbeg, @Nock, had the same reaction to his first dram of Batch # 006 that I did. However, with greater exposure @Nock says he actually slightly prefers Batch # 006 to # 007. For him the difference is only about 1 point, but @Nock never ignores the slight differences with Islay whiskies. So I am sure that there is much to like in your Laphroaig 10 YO Cask Strength, Batch # 006. For nuance and details, consult @Nock. I will reserve my own judgment about Batch # 006 until after I have consumed more of it. The more important observation is that all of the Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength releases are well worth drinking.

@Robert99, it looks like we may need to swap samples of our respective batches 006 and 007...

@Victor That is good news. You know I am not a fast drinker, so my bottle will have plenty of time to open and improve. As usual, you came with very precise and usefull information. Thanks!

@Nozinan I am all for it. I will bottle a sample as soon as I will open this Batch 006.

@Victor - a wonderful review! I am spot on with you. My score is also a 91.

@Robert99 - @Victor took the words out of my mouth. Batch 006 is one of those rare peated whiskies that seemed to improve with time. (I have found almost every other Laphroaig 10yo CS tends to fall off and become slightly bitter with air time).

Maybe it was just that I "got to know 006 more." Who knows? I can only tell you that my preference is slightly in-favor of 006 over 007 by a margin of only one point. However, your experience might vary. Obviously, the best thing is to have one of each and compare them side by side.

Thanks to @Victor I have multiple bottles now of 006 and 007. My current bottle of 007 is now down to only two fingers. Once that runs out I plan to open bottles of both 007 and 006 on the same day and try to see how both evolve over the next year. We will see how much restraint I can manage.

@Victor @Nock Like you I'm a big fan of the CS series and agree that this is the expression that truly represents Laphroaig. All I have to say is if you like 007 then you're going to love 008. I tasted it at the distillery when I was there in May. I don't know if it was the abundance of free pours, the joy of being on holiday on Islay or the remarkable skill of the whisky makers but this was quite a special dram.

I have yet to sit down with it in the silence of my home and make a fair assessment but I'm good to go with my initial thoughts.

Excellent review @Victor. I had a dram of Laphroaig 10 CS batch 007 last night and, to my tastes, this one has got even better after being exposed to air for about a year. Even though it's 56.3% abv I found it extremely easy to drink without water .I'm so glad I've got another 7 bottles put away!

@maltmate302, it is good to hear from you. You have 8 bottles of Laphraoig 10 Cask Strength Batch # 007 put away? Those are @Victor-like numbers! Makes me think I am slacking off having only 2 or 3 of them on hand.

That is great to hear that you find that Batch # 007 takes air well. I haven't had the opportunity to observe that yet.

As to adding water, you know my shtick. 80% of the time I don't ever add water unless I am doing a review, or I don't like the whisky as it is without water. And, as I like to say: "Add water at only 56.3% ABV? Why would anyone ever do that?" I am very happy to be more alcohol tolerant than apparently most whisky lovers are. Also, I think, drinking a lot of American whiskies at 62 to 73.75% ABV makes whiskies below 60% ABV look somewhat modest in alcohol by comparison.

@maltmate302,8 bottles is mighty impressive and shows much foresight. I have only bought 4 and feel a bit guilty. I don't think I have ever bought more than 4 bottles of any whisky. I bought 4 of my favorite Uigeadial, my favorite Corry, and my favorite Brora. However, I am now beginning to regret that number as many of those bottles are gone. Why oh why didn't I buy more?

@MaltActivist, I am jealous of your journey to Islay (both this year and last). I have so many questions for the people at those distilleries. I am anxious to try 008, and I would love to hear your thoughts on what you think is different from 007. I always enjoy teasing out the nuances between different batches - because they are always going to be there.

However, it seems to take almost a year for the newest batch of Laphroaig 10yo CS to reach the states. This is my favorite expression from Laphroaig and the one I will be the most sad to see lose its age statement - may it never be so!

Hello @Nock the main reason I bought 8 of the Laphroaig 10 CS batch 7 has more to do with desperation than foresight. Over here the only realistic way of getting Laphroaig CS is from the distillery shop itself and then you only have a small window of opportunity.Also you can only have 2 bottles per order so you have to place multiple orders with the extra postage costs that entails. For example with the batch 7 I ordered 2 per day, 4 days in a row, until supplies were exhausted. With the batch 8 this year they became available on the 9th of June when I ordered 2, I ordered another 2 on the 10th and on the 11th stocks had become depleted. So you see unless you keep abreast of developments in the UK you'll never get any Laphroaig 10 CS. Also when you discover that you can flip the bottles for double the money, getting them,if you can, becomes a no-brainer!

Of course, you who talk about multiples of bottles, realize that this thread is being read by Canadians who may be fully abreast of CS releases but are able to get NONE of them here!

There is one good thing coming out of those comments. There is three good batches in a row and two of them are still available. Unfortunately, there is also one bad thing: no batch is available in Canada and I'm Canadian. But I am still lucky, I can take vacation in the USA from time to time. I have good neighbours.

@Nozinan, @Robert99, it should be clear from the above comments that those of us in the UK and US do NOT take continuing access to Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength for granted. Like many other good whisky things from the last 5 years, Laphroaig 10 CS could disappear or be priced out of reason, at any time. We speak of putting in supply of multiple bottles because we like it so much and because we assume nothing about its future availability or pricing. We've seen plenty of "good deal" whiskies disappear or go to silly prices in recent years.

I agree with Victor here. Laphroaig 10 CS and Ardbeg 10 are my picks for the two most likely malts that we'll all wish we stocked on after it's too late.

My point is that a lot of us in Canada wish we COULD stock up on it now...