7 May 2015 Ruben Laphroaig

Laphroaig 15 Years (200th Anniversary)

Name: Laphroaig 15 Years (200th Anniversary)
Brand: Laphroaig
Rating: 4 (2 reviews)

Laphroaig distillery is celebrating its 200th Anniversary in 2015. All kinds of bicentennial events are planned throughout the year and we can expect no less than seven special editions (how about a 21 Year Old in August and a Laphroaig 32 Year Old in autumn?). First up is this Laphroaig 15 Year Old 200th Anniversary edition.

It’s a revival really, as Laphroaig 15yo (the favourite whisky of Prince Charles, apparently) was first launched in 1980. It was discontinued in 2009 and replaced by an 18 Year Old, but now we can enjoy it once again.

Laphroaig 15 yo ‘200th Anniversary’ (43%, OB 2015, 72.000 btl.)

Nose: nice. It’s a slightly unmodern style, which means less peat and more (subtle) fruits. Ripe banana, nice papaya / mango and a hint of grapefruit. Lots of dried seaweed and antiseptic. Tobacco notes, a little flax. Vanilla and honey. I really like this nose, despite or because of the peat smoke being a bit restrained.

Mouth: again quite smooth and rounded, with a creamy mouthfeel. Sweet tobacco. Lime and pear syrup. Drier after a while, with a peppery kick. Sooty notes in the background, with liquorice and a hint of brine.

Finish: medium long, with some salt water and smoky honey.

Fans of the modern, more intensely peated Laphroaig profile may find this underpowered and lacking in smokiness. I really like it for its old-style fruitiness and complexity. I think it may have reached 90 points with a slightly higher strength. Around € 100. Due to arrive in stores globally.

Score: 89/100

6Comments

Add yours

1

sjoerd972 on 7 May 2015 at 08:52

I didn’t pick up on the fruits as much as you did, but I agree in the conclusion that this is a very old fashioned Islay whisky. Much more depth and much less in your face than most current releases
2

Thijs | WoW on 7 May 2015 at 09:13

I admittedly don’t have much experience with old-style Islay. But the sweetness of the new Laphroaig 15 made me feel like it was more tailored to attract the younger crowd, like with a lot of the recent NAS-releases. I didn’t like it as much as you did.
3

WhiskyNotes on 7 May 2015 at 09:24

Modern NAS usually comes down to abundant vanilla sweetness or a punchy sherry influence, usually from newish oak. In this case, I see a decent, fruity spirit probably matured in refill wood.

It’s too bad any kind of sweetness is now linked to NAS. I don’t think this new 15yo seems young. It’s a matter of taste of course – I’m a fan.
4

Ormiston Whisky on 7 May 2015 at 09:27

I agree, it’s a nice drink but for me I preferred the 18yr old. The 18 is cheaper but rumours are it is being discontinued due to lack of supply.
5

Tabrulavubeg on 7 May 2015 at 11:26

I prefer the 18yo over this 15yo aswell as the old (2009) 15yo. Sadly, it’s not just a rumour but appears to be a fact that the 18 yo is about to be discontinued. It’s practically sold out everywhere in Germany, for example, with remaining bottles in the shops being priced around 90 EUR.
6

chadm252 on 10 May 2017 at 13:37

I was in Langkawi, a duty-free island in Malaysia, and found one of the old bottles of Laphroaig 15yo (i.e., not the anniversary edition pictured above) in the back room of a warehouse, under a thick layer of dust. It was still in its box with everything intact. What a find! This whisky was obviously bottled before the new SWR went into effect in 2009, as it says “Single Islay Malt Scotch Whisky” (the new laws stipulate the region must come first on the label now, so the newer bottles say “Islay Single Malt”) — so I know at the very latest, it was distilled in 1993 and bottled in 2008.

However, I think it’s actually older (the bottling, I mean — obviously the whisky is only 15yo). The level of the whisky inside is down to just above the shoulder of the bottle which is a level of evaporation that takes a lot of years to happen in a corked and sealed bottle. It has an old-style MDNP tax stamp on the outside of the box (“Malaysia Duty Not Paid”) — one that hasn’t been used in 10+ years. My guess is that this whisky was distilled in the 1980s. The best part is that I paid a paltry RM200 for this bottle, which is roughly US$45. (I also got a stunning bottle of Balvenie 15yo which was laid down in 1989 and bottled by hand in 2004), for even less.)

I wonder if I can photograph the bottle, box, and notes that came inside the box and send to Laphroaig and get an estimate of when it was bottled — just to satisfy my own curiosity. If anyone has any thoughts, I’d love to hear from you!

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Laphroaig 15 yo ‘200th Anniversary’ (43%, OB 2015, 72.000 btl.)

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