The Director’s Special range from Elixir Distillers is the premium portfolio within the Single Malts of Scotland brand. It is the personal selection of Sukhinder Singh. It includes lost distilleries, older casks or simply exquisite drams. Bottles come with a prooftag that can be authenticated online.
One of the recent additions to this range is this Laphroaig 27 Year Old.
Laphroaig 27 yo (51,2%, Single Malts of Scotland ‘Director’s Special’ 2024, first fill bourbon barrel, 210 btl.)
Nose: rather fruity, with a lot of grilled pineapple and tangerines, as well as (scorched) lemon peelings, green apples and hints of mead. Light natural vanilla. Then the classic (and in this case really classy) Laphroaig smoke appears. Dusty coal, with iodine, wet hay and bandages in the background. Some tobacco as well.
Mouth: still quite fruity, although it shows more wood than most of these undisclosed early 1990s expressions. Pepper and aniseed, with charred oak and big saline notes. Some almonds, sultanas and liquorice. Light tarry notes in the middle, as well as herbal elements. Then some grapefruit and pineapple towards the end, along with pipe tobacco and a mineral dry note.
Finish: long and warming, with sooty smoke. Also echoes of passion fruit, mixed with oak spice, sea salt and eucalyptus.
Laphroaig from this era doesn’t disappoint. Classy smoke and lots of complexities. Some of the early 90s vintages offer more fruity notes, but now we’re nitpicking. Sold out in most places, but still available from TyndrumWhisky or The Whisky Barrel for instance.