Laphroaig 1998 21 Year Old The Whisky Exchange

Billy Abbott, The Whisky Exchange

• Nose

  Meaty and leathery: singed roast beef on a new car seat. Butter icing with a hint of mint pushes through the middle, dragging a dried orange peel and berry fruit behind it: blackcurrants, dried cherries and raisins. Dried stone fruit notes build: apricots and plums. Hiding at the back is a pile of charcoal stirred through a bucket of molasses.

• Palate

  Much softer than the nose suggests, with a rich and sweet Demerara and liquorice base covered in scattered fruit: stewed orange segments and dried peel; dried cherries and cherry jam; spicy baked apples and pears; blackcurrants and blackberries. Tendrils of earthy peat smoke infused with a touch of TCP are wrapped around everything. New leather sits behind.

• Finish

  Rich and earthy peat lingers, with flashes of liquorice, mint and berry compote appearing and disappearing.

• Comment

  A dram that roars on the nose and purrs on the palate. Laphroaig’s spirit often hides its fruity character under medicinal smoke, but 21 years of maturation have peeled back the TCP to reveal the distillery’s heart.