Laphroaig 10YO vs Quarter Cask, plus 18YO Review

It seems odd that I have never reviewed a Laphroaig before, being that it is the most famous of the three Kildalton coast distilleries and that I don’t think there has ever been a time when my whisky collection has not included at least one of their bottlings.

So, let’s address that oversight now.

This article started life as a review of the Laphroaig 10-Year-Old Cask Strength but I have since decided to split it up into two parts. Part 1 will be about the long lost 18-Year-Old and then the 10-Year-Old vs the Quarter Cask No Age Statement. In Part 2, we’ll tackle the 10-Year-Old Cask Strength editions.

Laphroaig – A Brief Profile

Laphroaig, with its unmistakable signature flavour of  seaweed, toffee and pungent smoke, is one of only a handful of Scottish malt distillery whiskies which were being bottled in the early 20th century. Whisky made from 100% malted barley and distilled in pot stills at a single distillery in Scotland, bottled straight, without blending with grain whisky, was a very rare artefact and unrecognised as a product in its own right, separate from Scotch Blended Whisky until the 1960s.

My One Foot plot on Islay, opposite the distillery

The term “Single Malt” did not exist as yet and Laphroaig was sold simply as “Laphroaig Islay Whisky” through the exclusive Spirits company Berry Bros & Rudd.  First appearing in the 1920s, the company bottled Laphroaig at around 12 Years Old, yet the Age Statement was not even mentioned on the label. Only the “Vintage” (The year of distillation) was stated.

Berry Bros, Circa 1930s

Circa 1960s

According to Charles Maclean, in order to get around US Prohibition laws (1920-1933), it was actually sold as medicine through pharmacies in the United States. Berry Bros continued to bottle Laphroaig under their name but the first Official bottling of Laphroaig was released in 1960. It proudly stated, “10 Years Old” at the front of the label and still referred to as “Islay Malt Scotch Whisky”.

Laphroaig has been owned by Allied Distillers, the Tea room chain owners, Whitebread Beer and Spirits, Fortune Brands, before being bought up by current owners - Beam Suntory, the Japanese-American multinational Spirits company.

Back in the early 2000s they had, what was then considered a typical line-up range for those days, a 10-Year-Old and an 18-Year-Old. When, in the 2010s, stocks of the wonderful 18-Year-Old whisky began to run dry, they briefly replaced it with a 16-Year-Old, hinting that the 18 would return shortly, but even the 16 and later 15-Year-Old have now long disappeared and there is no sign of the return of the 18-Year-Old for the foreseeable future.

Just for historical reference, I'll just quickly profile the dearly departed 18-Year-Old.

Laphroaig 18-Year-Old

Status: Discontinued.

Price: Was around NIS 1,000 here in Israel.

Bottled at 48% abv

Filtration: Non-Chill Filtered. (Stated on the back label).

Colour: E150a Caramel colour added.

Maturation: Ex-Bourbon Barrels (As stated on the back label).

Kashrus Status: No Certification but seems to have no Kashrus issues.

The 18-Year-Old was, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Laphroaig Single Malt Whisky. For me, it had everything except a natural colour. I actually went through three bottles of this. I also have one bottle still unopened which was a special edition to celebrate the late Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee back in 2012. This is the one with the peculiar statement on the front label "1/3000", implying that this is bottle No.1 of 3000. Of course it wasn't. All the bottles said "1/3000". 

Laphroaig 18 Tasting Notes

On the Nose

Initially, less intense peat on the nose. Strangely it was more pronounced in the mouth with heavy oily sweet pungent flavours, no doubt due to the lack of chill-filtration. Fruit and confectionary notes were magnified. This was by far the fruitiest of any Laphroaigs I have drunk. White fruits, tropical fruits and sugar powder coated lemon and orange candied peels. Big aromas of honey, sweet ginger, wood spices and Apple pie crust.

Tasting

Larger than life mouth feel. As mentioned above, heavy oily sweet earthy peat (as opposed to the usual ashy peat you get with other Laphroaig expressions), married with tons of luscious yellow fruit and a hint of milk fudge. It was a real occasion to drink this wonderful dram. Heather honey, Apple pie crust, shortcake biscuits that melt in the mouth and Sugar Puffs® cereal with milk.

Finish

Long sweet oven Apple Pie baked in a peat oven.

I was crushed when I heard it had been discontinued. It was simply wonderful whisky.

I was given a sample of the 15-Year-old which replaced the 18, at a distillery visit on Islay in 2015. To me, it tasted like a very poor version of the 18-Year-Old but at a ridiculously high price. All those big fruit notes were missing. It certainly wasn't worth buying, despite the impressive salesman's pitch.

Laphroaig Today

Today, with the exception of its standard long running 10-Year-Old, their entire core range consists of various types of Double/Triple/Quadruple maturations and exotic wine finishes are all NAS (Non-Aged Statement) expressions.

The Special Limited and Annual releases consists of the outrageously expensive 25-Year-Old at around £420 and the Cairdeas, an annual Vintage Edition which changes Cask types every year.

The only consistent and dependable Annual Official Release is the 10-Year-Old Cask Strength, but that will be the subject of my next review, Be’ezrat Hashem.

The Standard 10-Year-Old

Laphroaig 10 Standard bottling was considered an instant classic ever since it was launched in the early 2000s. It is so popular that there are those who will drink nothing else. Shops which stock only a limited number of Single Malts will almost certainly include a Laphroaig 10.

Laphroaig as a flavour profile is very much a Marmite Whisky. You either love that iodine, seawater, seaweed and wet bandages aroma, or hate it. I would say that it’s an acquired taste and that, with some acclimatisation, I know many who previously couldn’t even stand the smell of it, then came to appreciate it and now actually enjoy it. It definitely  divides opinions and the Laphroaig 10-Year-Old in particular is the whisky many love to hate.

Just as it has its haters amongst most novices and those who dislike peated whiskies, the standard 10-Year-Old also has its antagonists amongst the experienced whisky enthusiasts. They will tell you that this is the classic example of the parent company taking wonderful distillate from an amazing distillery and ruining it. Like putting a Scottish Lion in chains, using brutal methods to “civilise” the beast. They will tell you that it has been Chill Filtered to an inch of its life, removing all those natural oils and destroying much of the flavour. It is then watered down to the bare legal minimum of 40% abv. Then, to add insult to injury, they add a fake orange-brown tan to it using the dreaded E150a Caramel Spirit colouring. All this in order to create a sanitized, “Laphroaig-Light” version, almost a caricature of itself, all to please the marketing guys at Beam Suntory, who would never touch Laphroaig unless it was part of some exotic trendy Cocktail.

They argue that it’s the same story with Beam Suntory’s other distilleries and here I have some sympathy with their view. Great distilleries whose best qualities as single malts have been utterly obliterated by corporate marketing tyranny. Bowmore, Ardmore, Glen Garioch and Auchentoshan. Official bottlings are all shadows of the whiskies they could actually be. You will really get a clear picture of the damage done if you manage to get hold of an independent naturally presented bottling of one of these distilleries by Signatory or the like.

The company’s one saving grace is the annual cask strength releases coming out of Laphroaig and Bowmore. I am sure that we’d love to see the equivalent cask strength versions coming out of Ardmore and Auchentoshan. (After a conversation with the manager of Auchentoshan a few years back, I very much doubt whether we will be seeing a Non-Chill Filtered, High-ABV expression coming from this distillery any time soon).

So, what do I think of the Laphroaig 10 standard Edition? Well, although in general I would promote integrity bottlings at higher alcohol strength and non-chill filtered for fuller flavour, in the case of this single malt however, I can forgive it for all its faults, except one! (Can you guess which one?)

I will say at the beginning that I am not one of its haters and would say that despite all its self-imposed compromises, I do actually believe that it plays an important role in the marketplace by serving as an introduction to the unique Laphroaig flavour profile.

Here in Israel, the Laphroaig 10 has gone through quite a price change. Back in 2015 it was almost 300 Shekels!!! Since then it has gradually come down in price until pre-Covid 2020, it had reached 180 Shekels in some places. Today it can be found in Israel from 180 Shekels all the way up to 250 Shekels.

Laphroaig 10 Standard Core Range Edition

Price: Anywhere from NIS 180-250

Bottled At: 40% abv

Filtration: Chill Filtered.

Colour: E150a Caramel colour added. A lot!

Maturation: Ex-Bourbon Barrels

Kashrus Status: No Certification but seems to have no Kashrus issues.

Packaging

Like the Single Malt, the Laphroaig packaging is also considered a timeless classic. It hasn’t actually changed that much since they first began releasing official bottlings in the 1960s. In general, I think that that’s a very good thing. It’s basically the same except for some tiny tweaks here and there which makes the artwork tidier and cleaner.

That green logo is instantly recognisable to everyone and if they are being sensible, they won’t radically change it.

At the top of the canister tube is the Royal Warrant of Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales. (More about that later).

The only criticism I would have, is they make do with a white plastic cork stopper throughout the whole range, even with their premium expensive expressions. That’s just tacky. Anything over £100 that comes with a plastic anything is, in my opinion, not taking their own product seriously.

BREAKING NEWS

How interesting that I just received an email from Laphroaig informing us that they had “revamped [the] packaging” to have a smaller “carbon footprint”. I think it’s one of the better re-packaging I’ve seem as there is obvious continuity with the new branding being immediately recognisable as Laphroaig despite the changes.

The New Packaging

That familiar round white and green canister tube has been replaced by a “Recycling” cardboard box type but packaging artwork remains more or less the same.

They also write that in an effort to reduce their plastic usage they’ve replaced the “plastic bar top” (I assume they mean the plastic stopper for the cork), with a beech wood alternative. Never mind the carbon footprint, that plastic stopper cheapened the product. I’m very happy it’s gone.

My overall impression from the photos is that it looks really good. I am somewhat puzzled however by the continued use of the Royal Warrant of Charles, Prince of Wales, seeing as he is now King Charles III!?

Appearance

Fake Irn-Bru like orang-brown!

Mouth Feel

Despite the intense flavours, it almost has the consistency of water in the mouth, no doubt due to heavy chill-filtration. Not good!

Nosing and Taste

Yes, I’m going to break from my usual format this time and combine the two together. I feel that when it comes to the Laphroaig 10, it’s just one single experience.

Like Islay mist in the early morning as the Kennacraig Ferry comes into Port Ellen, there is a powerful coastal peaty smoke with a hint of newly laid down road tar and ship’s engine oil, carbolic soap and some smoky chimney ash, vanilla sugar, lemon sherbet, seaweed and seashells, hospital bandages, TCP aromas, with buttered haddock, and sweet apple and caramel pie on the taste buds.

The finish is long with sweet lemony notes gradually turning savoury like sea-salty crackers. However, some like me, also detect a slight saccharine artificial sweet-bitter note at the end.

This is where I have to talk about what is, in my opinion the only unforgivable aspect of this Single Malt. It is that absolutely awful and frankly embarrassing orange-brown fake colour. It seems to me that there is so much E150a Caramel colouring in this Laphroaig, that it leads me to conclude that it is the cause of that bitter/artificial sweetness you get at the end (even though industrial bio-chemists assure us that E150a is tasteless in these amounts).

So, what colour should it be? Well, let's compare this Laphroaig 10 with the Ardbeg 10, also matured in 100% Ex-Bourbon barrels and just a few hundred metres separating these two distilleries on the same Kildalton Coastal road.

The Ardbeg 10 on the left displays a pale Chardonnay wine/ straw tint. That's the natural colour of an Ex-Bourbon Barrel matured Single Malt Whisky!

The other thing which bothers me personally (but I must admit that others might not even notice) is the sensory discrepancy between these powerful aromas of peat and tar and watery mouth feel.

Having said all this, for many just getting into Single Malts and discovering Islay peaty whiskies for the first time, perhaps the likes of Ardbeg 10 or Lagavulin 8 or 12 will be simply too intense for most people. At least, according to many online, the Laphroaig 10 seems intense enough, at least to start with.

Conclusion

Despite all its faults, I must admit that it's really easy drinking and on a hot day, goes very well with an ice cube. (Being Chill-Filtered, it remains clear in the glass, if that's important to someone?). I always keep a bottle on hand for those times when I have a guest who has never experienced the delights of Islay Peat Monsters. My approach is to start off with the Caol Ila 18 or 12 and then contrast this with the Laphroaig 10. This is usually sufficient unless you want a complete sensory overload and the possibility of putting them off of these types of Single Malts for good.

Like the Caol Ila 12, I also have found that the Laphroaig 10 has remained more or less pretty consistent over the years from batch to batch. There are no surprises here as you know exactly what to expect when popping the cork of a new bottle.

It seems however, that reading all the online "expert" reviews of Laphroaig 10 verses The Quarter Cask, I am in the minority with almost every expert/enthusiast agreeing that we should only be purchasing the Quarter Cask and skip (turn our noses up at) the Standard 10-Year-Old. I will now explain why I don’t concur.

The Quarter Cask 

An Official Integrity Bottlings?

Price: Around NIS 250

Bottled At: 48% abv

Filtration: Originally Non-Chill Filtered, then suddenly, we don't know!

Colour: E150a Caramel colour added. A lot!

Maturation: Quarter Cask Ex-Bourbon Barrels.

Kashrus Status: No Certification but seems to have no Kashrus issues.

It seems as if that Beam Suntory tested the Integrity bottling “waters” for a regular core-range product with their “Quarter Cask” No Age Statement, first released in 2004, using young whisky (estimated at around 5 Years Old), which had been made with heavily peated barley and bottled at a high 48%. Moreover, these first batches proudly stated NON-CHILL FILTERED on the front in a huge Font. (Of course, they still insisted on adding Caramel colouring for reasons only their corporate department knows why).

The Non-Chill Filtered statement disappeared

Interestingly though, those sharp eyed amongst you would have noticed that this Non-Chill Filtered statement magically disappeared in later batches, even though representatives still insisted that the Quarter Cask was still Non-Chill filtered.

First batches of the Quarter Cask back in the early 2004-2005 were very promising, despite the lack of Age Statement.

A big mouth feel of salty oily toffee, hospital disinfectant and wood ash. There was honey and dry white fruit like Oven Dried Apple Crisps and a hint of lemon, with a big punch of salty bitter seaweed peat and burnt black toffee in heap loads. I suspected that they were using a small percentage of older whisky, to boost the quality in order to establish the product on the market.

By the third batch however, it was clear that the recipe had changed, and not for the better. 

Off notes of nail polish remover, burnt plastic (indicating the use of young, immature whiskies), and glue. What kind of glue you ask? It took me back to when I was about 10 years old, trying to stick together Airfix® model aeroplanes. 

The Quarter Cask was always dry but now it was just burnt plastic and dry ash, lacking almost all its former apple and lemon fruitiness. Overall quality of the product seemed to have taken a nosedive.

A few of the later releases which I tried were actually OK but it seems to be hit and miss now for each release of this product. Consequently, I really cannot recommend it.

Final Thoughts

So, in conclusion, despite its many faults, I’d still buy the Laphroaig 10 Standard Edition (even though it’s bottled at 40% abv, even though it’s chill-filtered and even though they have, in my opinion gone meshugah with the added colouring), over the Quarter Cask.

The question one must ask now is: Is there a (near) perfect example out there (after the demise of the 18-Year-Old) where you can get that unique Islay Laphroaig flavour experience without compromise from an official bottling, or is this only possible from independent bottlers? That will be the subject of my next review, Be’ezrat Hashem.