Laphroaig 16 & 1999 SMWS 29.173 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Two 16 year old Laphroaig’s to review today.

I was excited for the new OB as it’s a decent age, decent strength and Laphroaig. The only thing that grates me slightly is that I paid £20 less for the 18yo, but that was a few years ago now and such is life.

And since we seem to be in the middle of a little apocalypse I opened a 16yo Laphroaig from SMWS that we can compare against.

Laphroaig 16 48%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Nice mineral/seaweedy blast, soft vanilla, soft malt, plenty of peat and iodine, fresh bandages, clean classic Laphroaig. Great nose.

Taste: Soft and oily arrival, building mineral and medicinal flavours, iodine, bandages and honey, then more fruit with a fresh lemon/lime and under ripe mango thing, then back to more peat with sea soaked rocks drying in the sun.

Finish: Medium/Long length. A touch of rubber into the finish then salt and pepper, quite dry. Not as good here.

Finish lets it down a little but a great, slightly softer Laphroaig. Much prefer this to the 15yo 200th Anniversary.

77/100

Laphroaig 1999 SMWS 29.173 59.8%

'Forget time and space'

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Fresher and fruitier than expected with plenty of citrus, lime rind, grapefruit juice, light malty smoke backing it, salty samphire, driftwood bonfire. There is a medicinal touch to it but its quite subtle and in the background, clean bandages.

Water: Loses the fruit and now it's more about the earthy malt, mud after rain, the orange is coming back now.

Taste: Clean arrival, very bright and citrusy, then suddenly grips the tongue with heavy heavy smoke with lots of minerality and salt, licking salty rocks, sand saturated with sea water, samphire, grapfruit and dirty orange, stunning oils and really lovely balance.

Water: Softer and more fruity with an incredible orange flesh thing I remember from samples at the distillery, some seaweed, soft but heavy smoke. Takes me right back to the distillery.

Finish: Long length. More petrol-y here, delicious and super oily, a little lemon zest perhaps. With water there's a coal and ash thing going on.

Bottled at 16yo from a refill Bourbon barrel. The whisky I got for my engagement! Just fantastic indie Laphroaig, oily, balanced, citrusy, salty, a little medicinal. Not quite the equal of ‘Sausage Sandwiches and Oil Rigs’.

87/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #849-#850

Whisky Network Reviews #1021-#1022

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

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 the Global 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 I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Spey Trutina & 18 Reviews

Hi everyone,

The Speyside distillery is the cheekily named, newer distillery on the border of where you may term ‘Speyside.’

I realised that I hadn’t really tried any of their official range, partly because it was only being sold in Asia with the help of a famous footballer or something. Anyway, it is sold under the name Spey to avoid confusion with Speyside the region I guess, which isn’t confusing at all… Definitely doesn’t conflict with Glen Spey, Speyburn or the brand Speymalt (Gordon & MacPhail’s Macallan).

I can heartily recommend the new cask strength versions they’ve done of the range (if they haven’t already sold out everywhere but I haven’t reviewed those yet, only these two:

Spey Trutina 46%

Colour: Light Straw

Body: Light

Nose: Very light, slightly bready, new make spirit, pretty young but not bad for it, just a little boring, apple, pear, esters. Very clean.

Taste: Very very light, barely there at all (despite the strength), pear and green apple, lots of lemon, very fresh and easy.

Finish: Medium length. More here with vanilla, toasty, dough, a little ginger spice.

The definition of breakfast whisky. Not bad but there really isn’t much there in terms of complexity. An easy drinker.

61/100

 

Spey 18 46%

Colour: Straw

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Fresh and fruity, fruit salad with green grape, green apple, some lime, some leather from the oak, melon and Macadamia nut.

Taste: Light and delicate, fizzy lemon then dry oak, leather and chocolate, dark malt, some grape, melon, some spice with white pepper.

Finish: Medium length. Quite soft with a little lemon, leather. Quite a quiet finish.

1999, 'fresh' Sherry casks, which it definitely isn't. There is a nice balance of fresh and old here actually, again showing off the same style as the Trutina. Fresh and quite delicate whisky.

72/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #752-#753

Whisky Network Reviews #892-#893

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

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 I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Highland Park Dark 17 & 1999 Full Volume Reviews

Hi everyone,

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the direction Highland Park are going. They’re still on of my favourite distilleries when it comes to the age statement range (which I think is great, although was better priced a few years ago).

But a multitude of NAS and ‘collectors’ editions riding on as much Viking themed marketing as possible has left me a little disillusioned. The latest in this seemingly endless stream of new whiskies is Dark and (the yet to be released) Light. I was lucky enough to get a taste of the Dark in the Whiskysite.nl shop and managed to write some notes.

Next then was the new HP Full Volume, which has a vintage, a higher strength and a reasonable price.

Highland Park Dark 17 52.9%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Really dark fruit and spices. Rich Sherry, fig, plum, dark chocolate, heather, sweet honey. Great nose.

Taste: Rich and intense. Spicy, red apple, dark orange, plum, dark chocolate, syrup, Sherry and coffee.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Espresso, dark chocolate.

Best thing from HP in a while. The balance is there, it is heavy but not overly Sherried. The HP character comes through. All in all this was great whisky but remember these babies don’t come cheap. Because, you know, Vikings.

85/100

 

Highland Park 1999 Full Volume 47.2%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Underripe mango, melon, very fresh and clean, clean malt, austere for an HP, almost Irish-esque with that 'green' fruit and oak, lemon peel.

Taste: Soft arrival, melon, underipe mango, green oak, sappy, clean lemon, orange peel, dry oak, vanilla, quite dry though.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Slightly sooty, melon, very dry finish. Nice though.

Distilled 1999, bottled 2017. Not a super 'full volume' HP (the Dark is much more FULL VOLUME HP) and I'm not a massive fan of this style but good on 'em for age statement, colour and abv.

75/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #545-#546

Whisky Network Review #640-#641

Network Average: 74.6

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.

Why is this here?

Cragganmore 12 & 1999 Single Cask Reviews

Hi guys,

Some quick Cragganmore today. Did you know they have worm tubs? Which should create a more intense, meaty style. Like Mortlach, Talisker or Benrinnes. Alas, Diageo have seen fit to release this at 12 years old at 40%, so it's never really achieved the status of the others.

Cragganmore 12 year old 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Light

Nose: Light and mellow. Woody, wood resin, wood polish, sandalwood, light sherry, fruit- Apple, pear, touch of raspberry, toffee, fudge, nuts.

Taste: Soft creamy oak, whisky, bit of spice, freshly sanded wood, fino Sherry.

More fruity with a drop of water.

Finish: Short length. Creamy oak with a bit of coffee.

Opens up with a drop of water. Lacking something....

64/100

Cragganmore 1999 'Clerk of the Works' 49.6%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: A lovely natural one. A little alcohol, lovely honey, soft vanilla, shortbread biscuit, light soft fruitiness, red apple and pear.

Taste: Green apple, pear, then red apple, apple skin, oily shortbread biscuits, more spice building with ginger and nutmeg, oak from the Hogshead, some more juicy pear then.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Oak, pear and apple crumble, then dry sandalwood.

Bottled by Speciality Drinks for Hawksmoor restaurant, London. Batch 001. The kind of thing I'm always on the lookout for, really unique bottling.

77/100

Thanks for reading!

Reviews #279-#280

Network Average: 75.4
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
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