Laphroaig 10 vs 28: Why Old Laphroaig Isn't What You Think...
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- Опубліковано 30 сер 2021
- You may have heard it said before that old smoky/peaty whisky loses its smoke over time? Is that true? Does that mean peat-heads won't like old smoky Islay whisky? In this video we look to answer that with two bottles of the famous heavily peated Islay distillery, Laphroaig:
Whiskies in this video:
Laphroaig 10
40% ABV
Islay Scotch Whisky
Bourbon Cask
vs
Laphroaig 28
44.4% ABV
Islay Scotch Whisky
Bourbon & Sherry Casks
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As always, superb content explained in such an easy-going east to understand manner. Thanks again, Phil.
Thanks Kevin! Grateful to have you watching 👍🥃
I think the sweetness of the 28 year old is actually a part of the normal laphroaig signature, you just can't normally smell or taste it because it gets overpowered by the peat / phenols. If you do want to smell it in the 10 year old I recommend drinking a glass and then smelling the glass the next morning (without having cleaned the glass of course), it'll smell a lot like vanilla in my experience!
Oh that’s super interesting Lucas! So the break down of peat is more the clearing of the smokescreen (excuse the pun) that’s hiding the sweetness. That’s probably true
I've also had this too (not intentionally though, smelt it to see if it was clean and was surprised.)
Have you ever had the ardbeg Blasda? What a weird bottling. No peat whisky from a distillery that specialises in peated
@@eatsmokedrink Unfortunately no, but if I ever get the chance to I'll be sure to try it as I like a lot of Ardbeg's other bottlings
I agree. Same goes for many smoky whiskies. Like Ardbegs. Morning after I often find strong scent of vanilla and toffee when the smoke and alcohol have cleared away
Another great video Phil... Please give us more content!!! Love your work.
Great video, interesting insight into old peated wiskeys and how the flavour is effected
I'm very glad I found your channel. It's entertaining and I have use of the knowledge when at work, the perfect combo! Cheers!
That's great to hear! Thanks so much, grateful to share.
The 28 nose is absolutely amazing. I poured some this evening. Cherries, orange, iodine, brine, ginger, mint, nutmeg, caramel, cocoa, blueberry, bay leaf, and subtle smoke and leather. On the palate, the fuit is prominent, with a background of softened iodine and earthy disintegrated peat smoke. This is one of my favorites whiskies, especially the nose. I just bought a Laphroaig 25, which is at 51.9%. It will be really interesting to see how it compares. My other favorite Laphroaig is the Lore.
A great comparison between the two. Glad I am not just the only one who has had the water down Jagermeister note. Cheers guys.
👊
Sorry I got it! Eat, Smoke, Drink! My mind suddenly turned on!! lol! I enjoy both channels so much- you two should collab again!
Would be nice to try the Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength. People who tried it say it’s great. Great video btw. 🥃😎
Thanks Markus! For some reason I can’t get it in NZ 😔. Hopefully I can try it soon!
I've had a bottle before and it is fantastic. To paraphrase Ralfy: if you want a peat monster don't waste your money on Octomore get Laphroaig 10 cask strength. It was around $100 USD when I got one a couple years ago out of state and I had a chance to get one again, but I opted instead for the Laphroaig 10 Sherry Oak Finish (48%). I haven't had much of it yet, but as someone who loves sherried whisky it's a rare treat to find a great sherry Islay whisky. I highly recommend both, but if you can't find either then Laphroaig Quarter Cask is always great and is my go-to rather than the regular 10yr old.
Another great video, very interesting. Cool that you actually got the bottles from the distillery and not sourced, like people said last time. I trust you that the 28 haven't lingered too much out of representative state. But cool to see the before thought to be a uncertainty that smoke disappears over time to be confirmed. This makes sense because many of the Islay malts is 10 year olds, except the lagavulin 16, which is very interesting because one can argue that it is the most representative/quality/classic Islay malt to find, and 16 is fairly aged compared to 10.
Thanks Ben! Yeah it was super interesting. That is true about the Lagavulin, but probably also why Laphroaig, Port Charlotte and Ardbeg are seen as peatier options - maybe because they are younger?
Laphroaig 25 is a fantastic example of an aged Islay Whisky, maybe as its presented at cask strength but the signature Laphroaig peat is ever present with the spirit being more rounded and richer. Cheers!🥃
I love the 10 but 28 would have been quite the experience. Loved the video.
I’ve been a whisky drinker for 30+ years, and I am one of those that have always hated peaty whiskies. That was, until I tried a Laphroaig 25 last year. It was fantastic, smooth, sweetish beautiful experience. I wish I could afford it, because it was truly a life-altering tasting.
I must agree that when you sometimes try these 'landmark whiskies' it tends to ruin you
THe Laph 25 is excellent. Also well crafted, I would even maybe say I find that laph25 had more guts and bravado than the 28.
If you get a chance you should hunt down independent bottled Laphroaig. Truly a bespoke experience.
Regarding Laphroaig 10 being designed for "Volume", I don't disagree, but in all honesty, do think the few Laphroaig cocktails & mistings really compare to the sales made by Scotch single malt drinkers trying to enjoy this whisky neat or with a drop of water?
I'm sure Beam-Suntory sells every drop of Laphroaig it makes, but I can also tell you that they are losing sales & their reputation amongst certain customers by not offering their whisky with more integrity, more alcohol and less artificial coloring & filtering.
That's why these days I tend to go for Port Charlotte 10 or Ledaig 10 when I'm looking for a heavily-peated malt.
Yeah i'm reaching for the PC10 too. I wish we got the Laphroaig 10 CS in NZ...
The PC10 is an excellent dram, a different more 'tarry' peat compared to the 'iondine' of laph i find but yeah, excellent choice.
I agree with you. PC10 i would prefer to the Laph10 and if they did it higher abv or cs it would certainly be so much better but at that price point the 10 sells for man the value is still pretty good.
Ledaig being not an islay but in same heavy peated category, I agree, I personally find ledaig do better in imdependent bottlings, the distillery bottlings tend to have less 'soul' to it which is a shame as ledaig is a crazy good spirit.
@@FirstPhilWhisky Yep, during the first lock down in Israel, I ordered the Laphroaig 10 CS Batch 12 from TWE. It cost me a fortune in Custom taxes and then VAT on top of that. It was worth it though.
Love Laphroaig. At least the young versions, specifically for the peat. Might pick this one up and give it a try if I have a good year this year. Lets see.
Wow!! i freakin enjoyed this review of the Laphroaig 28. The price tag is beyond my price range$$$ i can enjoy the 10 cast strength over ice🥃
Good stuff, Phil.
Thanks! 🥃
Henward with eyes!!
Haha
Yeah, sungalsses indoors would have been a bit too 😂Kanye
in the US and Canada we get it at 43%. I can sometimes grab it for 60cad so good value. Cheers
Wow 60 that’s a great price :O In Québec Laphroaig 10 is 87 CAD, Quarter Cask is 92$
Original content and well done.
Cheers! Appreciate that
Great vídeo! Great topic! So in conclusion we can say that a peaty whisky doesn't get 'better' with age - it gets different. And different in a way that gets it ever more off the peaty category. So it would be interesting to compare it with other old whiskys (same age) but not peated and check if the phenolic breakdown is worth it or if peaty whiskys should only be aimed for as such while young. Cheers!
That is a very interesting one.
The peat is definitley still there but becomes different and not 'peat as we know it' type of thing.
Less resin and oiliness and more earthy and leathery.
But I would agree, it doesn't get 'better' with age from that sense but it definitely does get better as evn though the peat stands out more in the young laph10, comparatively you also get a hint of new make spirit flavours, that slight back of the palate bitterness and youth you can defintely taste.
The 28 is much more comhesive in flavours, it is much more complex too, so many flavours and from sweetness, smoke to mushrooms and earth, leather, fruit.
THe Laph 19 is relatively robust and isn't as complex imo. Like a sledgehammer (laph10) vs lots of different chisels (laph28)
@@eatsmokedrink thanks for the reply. I got the idea from the video and can almost taste the description lol would really like to see it on a blind taste with several other 28 yo since it may be one step in front of the others since the phenolic breakdown could let it punch even over that 28 yo. Cheers!
@@davidelourenco2537 good idea, Would be hard to find other 28s, a weird age number for most distilleries i find.
@@eatsmokedrink sure it is. Lol Lets say 'old'. For this case study it mathers time with and without phenolics. Maybe 25 yo peated vs 25 non-peated would be fare enough. It would also tell something about price since any very old peated is far more expensive (both due to brand hipe and because the bulk of production is sold young so only a small part reaches these ages - and if a 25 yo peated shows to be more complex and mature then other non-peated with the same age then brands should think twice on selling young). Thanks for the brainstorming on this topic. Cheers!
Well done
Love the comparison. The soft focus for presenters drove me crazy though. The bottles were in crisp focus though. 👍🏻
Ha the bottles were the main thing I guess 😅. Yeah... I tried out a new camera, but it didn’t have auto focus. Didn’t realise until I edited it 🙃😬
@@FirstPhilWhisky I figured that was that case. ☹️Impossible to re-record too when it’s a conversation and not so scripted. Loved the content anyway. 👍🏻👍🏻
@@Boognoss yeah, he probably had to cut plenty - we do talk a lot of shit when drinking whisky!
Thanks for the review - it was a great watch! I do disagree quite a bit though :) I own the 28YO, and quite contrary to your assessment, I find it to be extremely classic and typical of Laphroaig, complete with a little bit of that almost tropical fruitiness that older Laphroaigs are famous for - it has the traditional profile through and through - it really screams Laphroaig to me. Also, it needs to be taken into account that Beam changed the character of Laphroaig after taking over quite a bit and have gone for a more "screamy" and more wood-driven profile, which is a lot more "abrasive" than the old whisky was. This means that many people have only tasted the new taste profile, which means that their idea about what Laphroaig is or isn't is very different from that of us familiar with the pre-Beam vintages.
In the 28, I find all the typical characteristics: considerable peaty presence, seawater and iodine, that oily almost tarry component, burnt fuse ( xD ), the typical vanilla traits of ex-bourbon casks etc. - it's just presented in such a more elegant and richer, deeper way: the 10YO is a shouty youngster, while the 28YO has all the gravitas of a wise old sage with a million stories to tell. It has all of that and more: some interesting nuttiness, some refined white wine notes, some chocolate popping up here and there and so much more. For me Laphroaig really has to be well-matured to really shine and while I find them rather mediocre when young (10YO, 15YO, Quarter Cask etc.), I find them absolutely stellar when old and majestic. Of course, the peat changes character over time, becoming almost "powdery" for lack of a better description, with layers of nuance - but when I had a glass of the 28 yesterday, I found it to have a strong "smoky" presence, particularly in the finish.
For me, this 28 is pretty much how I envision Laphroaig as close as possible to its perfect form, and it is in my opinion the best bang for the buck of the premium bottlings of Laphroaig (of which I have tasted many) out there. So classic and so interesting at the same time.
Finally, I want to point out that the 28 is bottled on natural cask strength and has not been watered down to this level, that's why it's 44.4% - this furthermore means that it cannot be compared to a whisky which has been watered down to the same strength through adding water. This is because all the water content in a non-watered-down whisky at 44.4% (in this case) is just packed with a strong concentration of flavour components, while a whisky that has been watered down has had a substantial amount of pure water (without almost any flavour components) added to it, thus severely watering down the taste. In fact, the most powerful whisky with regard to flavour concentration that I have ever had was a Mortlach 1957 50YO at 43.5%, it blew any whisky at 55+% ABV out of the water - I could still taste it strongly hours after drinking it.
Regarding the American Prohibition story. Yes, it's true, it did take place but on a very small scale. Laphroaig was sold as health purifying tonic spirit. The instructions on the bottle advises diluting with water. As far as I understand, it really was intended as a tonic and not a means to circumvent the Prohibition laws. It goes without saying that it was un-chill filtered. I don't have any proof of this but it was common practice for pharmacists/chemists to add colour to their tonics in those days. It's just conjecture, I have no source for this.
Always love your insightful comments Reb! Yeah I couldn’t find much on it either in my research for my History of Scotch video, so left it out. Seems to be contested
@@FirstPhilWhisky Thanks for the reply. I wrote another comment about how peat and fruitiness change over time but it included a link so I suppose UA-cam deleted it?
Oh probably. UA-cam doesn’t like links as it thinks it’s spambots
@@FirstPhilWhisky What I wanted to say was that in my Kosher Whisky Review blog, I wrote a Comparison review of the Caol Ila 12, 18 and 25, noting how the peatiness subsided as the whisky got older. My comparison was actually far better than your Laphroaig as all three bottles were matured in the same Refill Ex-Bourbon barrels. What I found was that fruitiness was present in the 12 but reached its peak with the 18. The 25 had flavour notes of old dried out bitter fruit. Peatiness was strongest at 12, merged into the background with the 18 and virtually undetectable in the 25. My review includes tables as well.
To read it, do a Google for "Reb Mordechai Reviews" and then inside the blog, use the SEARCH button on the top right hand side and type in "Caol Ila".
I am not an expert of course, but isn't that part of buying an expensive bottle? That is is quite unique. The chance to experience something so unique is an experience amongst itself beyond the literal taste
I love Laphroaig 10 its a great drop but after discovering integrity malts I do wish they made it a higher abv and such...
Well there is a cask strength version of the 10
In Canada and US we get 43% ABV with Laphroaig 10
Isn’t the Laphroaig Quarter Cask a better option than the 10?
In my opinion, yes.
So at what age do enough if the phenols break down so that the “real” flavor of the whisky take over?
I wouldn't say that a peated whisky is not the real flavour.
I mean, that whisky is intended to be peated so the whole flavour package is peated
But we found the difference is already quite apparent around 18yo.
in the 20s you definitely get a huge difference,
Prime example is Caol Ila 12 distillery bottling and caol Ila 25 distillery bottlin.
if you get a chance in abar, side by side them, the Caol Ila 25 distillery bottling is astonoshing value for a 25.
Hey Phil can you please give me your guest’s channel name? I was watching, was away for awhile, and now I can’t think of his channel name! Please! Cheers!
Hey! @eatsmokedrink
@@FirstPhilWhisky Thanks so much Phil!! 🙂
It almost sounds like the 28 tastes like a blended whiskey, mild peatiness?
i guess to some degree, but i find blended malts/whisky tend to have short finish, great nose and excellent start of the palate but it stops short there.
The laph 28 is a lingering spirit, It progresses in itself with each sip too which is awesome!
@@eatsmokedrink very good point! It's fairly unsatisfying when the whiskey promises so much but doesn't deliver the finish or mouthfeel!
The 10 would be a bit of a palate wrecker comparitively to the 28
Yeah a bit, but the 28 does have lots of layers and changes over time. It's still very complex.
Yes, that is why we made sure we had the 28 first.
when yo ugo to tastings I frequently find that they go from youngest, entry level to the top tier.
In our tastings we always start with the what we feel may be the most nuanced, or well aged whisky first.
younger whisky tend to be ballsier and more robust. as a general rule anyway
Black Heart Rum is the best whiskey.
The 10 is more than I'm willing to pay. $1200 is insane. I don't even spend that much on hookers in a year.
If you are daft enough.to buy.28 yr old.peated. fot that money good.luck.to.u
Ha! Luckily I didn’t have to pay for it 😅