Laphroaig
is not French for "the frog" but Scottish for "the
beautiful hollow by the broad bay." And the word Lore
means the passing of a skill or tradition through word of
mouth, which is something these distillers have been doing
since 1815. They even go on to describe their sea side location,
cold smoke peating, and pristine water and the use of American
and European oak casks as well as former bourbon and sherry
casks. However they don't reveal the age of the scotch that
makes up this particular bottle, as they have gone the route
of many distillers with no age statement (NAS).
They
do drop one small clue on their website as to age by saying;
"Lore is a marriage...of many styles and many ages...some
as old as vintage 1993". Okay, so there is a bit of 23
year old scotch in this blend plus, no doubt, some others
that are much younger. The only reason I bring up age is that
it usually justifies a higher price point - in this case,
$125.00 per bottle. However, here you have to take them at
their words on the bottle: "The richest of the rich"
and "The most richly flavored of all Scotch whiskies".
They have also won numerous gold medals in tastings across
the country, so I guess the only way to finally decide if
its worth it is to try it, so let's get to it.
The
color of this is scotch is a light amber and that is probably
the only thing light about this spirit. The nose is the most
heavily peated and smoked nose I have ever smelled in all
my years of tasting scotch. Backing that smoke and peat is
oak and ash and malt and a touch of vanilla and even chocolate,
but the focus is definitely on the peat and smoke. On the
palate, I imagine that this taste of peat and smoke is probably
akin to actually biting into a burning and smoldering bit
of peat moss. WOW, that's some seriously flavored spirit!
The palate continues with a spicy zestiness and even a touch
of saltiness. The finish is spicy and yet sweet but still
very smoky and lasts a medium amount of time.
These
people weren't kidding around when they said this scotch is
"the most richly flavored of all..." Even with a
few drops of water the smoke and peat come through with flying
colors. If you are dead dog serious about your scotch, then
this bad boy scotch is the one for you. If you're a newbie
to scotch, then you might want to start off with some of the
other more mellow blends that are out there and work your
way up to this Laphroaig Lore; otherwise, it just might overwhelm
you with intense flavor. As for me, this baby is going into
my permanent collection, and I can't wait to try it out on
some of my friends and get their reactions.
Laphroaig
Lore retails for $125.00 per 750ml bottle, but I
have seen it on sale for as low as $80.00 and it is 96 proof
or 48%ABV.
By George Brozowski
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more Rants & Raves click
here.
http://www.laphroaig.com/
