Laphroaig Williamson 10 Year Old 2010 The Whisky Jury

If you know your Scotch history a bit, you are aware that Williamson refers to the legendary Elizabeth Leitch ‘Bessie’ Williamson, the first female distillery manager in history. From 1954 until 1972 she was even the owner of the distillery. I am of course talking about Laphroaig. The Whisky Jury released not one, but two casks or Laphroaig 2010. Cask twj-Lph01 and twj-Lph02, the second cask being bottles exclusively for the Belgian whisky shop Wine4You, run by my friend Ivo Drabs. I’ll start with the first, general release.

Very sturdy nose on farmy scents and ashes, tar and peat, but at the same time some sweet notes of vanilla and banana. A bit creamy in fact. Hint of plasticine that – once discovered – will not leave you anymore and starts to dominate. A good slice of smoked ham with a big rind all the way in the back and even some Italian espresso! Yummie.

On the palate the sweet notes come first, followed by something umami – good continuation of the nose – but then the peat explodes on the palate, making it quite intense. Feisty on salt & pepper and grand smoke development. Good strength, making water absolutely unnecessary. From the second sip forward some maritime notes take the reigns and the sweetness doesn’t stand a chance. Evolves towards brackish water with sweet and sour peat. Delicious!

The finish is medium long, very brackish and all about ashes. Islay pur sang.

Textbook of a young Laphroaig, but certainly the primus inter pares.

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