Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength Batch 007 Whisky Review!

The famous 'James Bond' batch of Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength, one of the best recent batches, and in my opinion, a future classic. 

Well, recent-ish. Batch 007 was bottled back in 2015, and the world has certainly changed in the half-decade since! 2015 was Laphroaig's 200th anniversary, and a number of special bottlings were released in celebration of that major milestone. There was the re-release of the 15-year old, the absolutely epic 32-year old sherry matured, and a very special and very brilliant Cairdeas (the annual Friends of Laphroaig bottling) that was distilled only from the distillery's own floor-malted barley, distilled only in their older & smaller stills, and matured in their famous No.1 warehouse right by the sea. 2015 was also when Australia last played host to Distillery Manager John Campbell, who I was lucky enough to interview here thanks to the efforts of former National Brand Ambassador Dan Woolley - who has since launched his own Australian whisky brand Highwayman. So in the midst of all of that activity it would've been easy to forget the poor-old 10-year old Cask Strength that was released in that same year. In fact this particular expression of Laphroaig, along with the awesome and much easier to find 12-year old Cask Strength Lagavulin, does generally tend to sit in the shadows compared to some more noisy releases - that situation is not helped by its availability, though. Batch 007 followed the same cask recipe as the previous batches, being fully matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, as is tradition for this expression. It was bottled at a relatively low 56.3% ABV, and aside from a small change on the cardboard outer tube where it carried a small '200 Years of Laphroaig' badge, the packaging was unchanged from the rest of the releases. But this whisky was certainly not easy to forget once you had tasted it - I think Batch 007 will go down as one of the best releases of the 10-year old Cask Strength in the series of numbered batches that kicked off back in 2009. If you're a fan of this style of big, bold Islay whisky, it'll leave you stirred; while if you're not, it'll certainly leave you shaken!

Despite tasting it a few times since release it's taken me a while to get around to reviewing this one, although on reflection that five years has gone by quite quickly - maybe with the exception of the last six months! The opportunity came around again when a mate brought his bottle along to a recent session, and I wasn't going to argue when he suggested that I take a sample to review and plug that little gap - maybe we do 'only' live twice? Now, I know I've said it before, in fact I think I've more-than mentioned it every time I've reviewed one of these cask strength Laphroaigs, but I may as well reiterate while we're here: it's a crying shame that this whisky is not officially imported into Australia. The only official way to get it over the oceans is to either order it directly from the distillery shop - which then incurs a 50-pound shipping charge, and then the local customs charges, duty, GST, and courier fees. That all adds up to one expensive bottle of whisky, since thanks to our excise rates that are some of the highest in the world you'll seldom get change from $250 AUD when it finally lands on your doorstep. And that's for a whisky that costs just $110 from the distillery shop itself, including the local VAT. And to reiterate again, those in the United States are spoiled with large amounts of this liquid, in 750ml bottles no less, often selling for even less than that. The other way of course is to buy yourself a bottle from overseas auction, where you can combine the shipping with multiple other bottles, but you'll still be hit with the same customs charges and courier fees, along with a buyer's premium. So it's still not a cheap proposition. 

If Laphroaig / Coca Cola / Beam Suntory could get this whisky on the Australian shelves for anywhere south of $200 AUD, even in small quantities, it would sell like hotcakes - as the aforementioned Lagavulin does every year it's imported. They could even save some of the often-unappreciated bottles, that are destined to sit on American shelves for years, from their purgatorial fate. So why don't they do it? I can't answer that, and we can't expect them to talk, either. Maybe Dr. No is hiding it all in a cave somewhere, but the chances of this happening are dwindling away as each year's release continues to tragically pass us by. Unfortunately, the same goes for the annual Cairdeas release, which was last officially imported way back in 2014. Please hear me, higher-ups - we want and need these higher strength Laphroaigs imported into Australia. You're being left behind by your competitors, and it's about time you caught up! 

Right, time to live & let die, let's drown our tears in a dram of Batch 007. As mentioned above it followed the so far-unbroken tradition of being matured in ex-bourbon casks, and was bottled at a cask strength of 56.3% in January 2015. It's also non-chill filtered and is barrier-filtered only, so if we ignore the fact that there is no mention of colouring on these releases - I'll resist the temptation to add a Goldfinger reference there - it's just about as unadulterated as official bottlings can get. Let's see what Q has rustled up this time...

Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength Batch 007, 56.3%. Islay, Scotland.

Matured in ex-bourbon casks, bottled 2015, the year of Laphroaig's 200th anniversary. Non-chill filtered, colouring unknown.

Colour: Amber. Possibly natural. 

Nose: Clean (well, relatively), sweet and coastal. Tar, sweet tobacco & liquorice, cold brine and damp volcanic rock. Lots of cold ash and a few pine needles, plus a couple of old bandages. Soft & dry earthy peat, chewy vanilla fudge and dried citrus - lemon and grapefruit. 

Texture: Medium weight, but builds quickly. Rich & oily, but gentle and inviting (again, relatively!). Sweet, peaty and mineralic. No heat. 

Taste: Sweet and chewy vanilla fudge, dry, soft earthy peat and some red chilli oil. More piles of cold ash and chilled brine. If I was going to wax lyrical, I'd say a burnt-out bonfire on a cold, windy beach... A little salted slightly bitter liquorice, dried grapefruit and lemon peel. A few old bandages and a touch of iodine. 

Finish: Long length. Warming with more chilli oil, cold ash and brine, a little drying kelp (seaweed) and salted honeycomb. Lemon again, dry earthy peat, and drying salt. Some damp rock-like minerality again, like oily whetstones (sharpening stones). 

Score: 4.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Beautiful. It's a softer, sweeter style of Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength, but it's no less rich and certainly no less delicious. It could be less divisive than some of the more aggressive higher-strength Laphroaigs can be, but again, it's lost nothing in the process. Many of the more senior whisky geeks talk fondly about the Laphroaig of yesteryear that was sweeter, less peaty and more fruity, and this Batch 007 would have to be close to that style. And if it is, then I get it! It's a citrusy, sweeter and less aggressive Laphroaig that is difficult to put down once poured. 

These yearly batches of '10CS' Laphroaig do vary quite a bit, and quite dramatically in some cases, but this 007 would have to be one of the better of the softer style - and it's almost a polar opposite of its predecessor, 006, and is closer to the most recent batch that I've tried, 2019's batch 011, although it's still more gentle and less aggressive, less "in your face" and less 'dirty' in style. I still say this one is a future classic, and I'm glad to have one squirreled away for future enjoyment!

Cheers!

Lark Sherry Aged & Sherry Finished Whisky Review!

A Lark official bottling with quite an usual name, and quite an unusual cask regimen, that will hopefully help to quell some recent controversy.  

It's been quite a while since I last tasted an official bottling from Lark Distillery - probably a few years, in fact. I must admit that the 'brand' has lost some of its lustre to me of late, in fact probably since AWH - now 'Lark Distilling Co', which is a better name than Australian Whisky Holdings - took ownership. Their handling of the Nant debacle has caused quite the stir, and with good reason, and it seemed like their intentions with the Overeem brand were also a little questionable - although the latter has now been resolved by the sale of the distillery back to the founding family - by way of Jane Overeem and her husband Mark Sawford. As for their clean-up of the Nant devastation, and a couple of very questionable (and in one case, potentially misleading) naming, labelling and branding decisions that have been made recently, the Lark brand and the name itself have been somewhat tarnished in the eyes of many Australian enthusiasts - myself included. Note that I've mentioned 'the name' separately from 'the brand' there, because in my view they're two different things - while AWH does own the legal rights to the Lark name, the name itself stems from the distillery founder and the godfather of Australian whisky, Bill Lark, and his family - all of whom are highly valued contributors to the Australian whisky industry. And I would argue that lately that name has not been given the level of respect and reverence that it deserves. These sore points are really a discussion for another day, but if you'd like more information take a glance at Andrew Derbidge's thoughts on these matters here on his blog, Whisky & Wisdom. I must admit this particular whisky we're looking at today has gone some way to restoring my faith in Lark Distillery itself. It's important to remember that a distillery's ownership and the sometimes misguided - or in Nant's history, outright fraudulent - decisions and practices of those owners do not necessarily reflect the hard work of the distillery staff, or even the quality of the product itself. And Lark is no exception to that.

Lark Distillery has always been a relatively quiet achiever, at least when compared with fellow-Tasmanian Sullivan's Cove and some of the more vocal mainland Australian distilleries. But there's no denying that the distillery itself has released some very good whiskies over it's 28-year history, many of which may not have received the attention that they deserved. I do have to point out though that many of the more recent examples, particularly the limited releases, have been priced very highly, and often the bottling strength is not as high as you'd expect. The 500ml bottle size also needs to be taken into account. I must admit though that their two core range bottlings, the entry-level "Classic Cask" and the "Cask Strength" are generally more reasonably priced at around $140 and $200 AUD respectively, although in my experience the quality of those two bottlings has varied wildly in their history. But compared to the likes of a past bottling of a 9-year old single ex-bourbon cask for example, that was bottled at just 43% and sold for a ridiculous $450 AUD, that's quite reasonable! Most of my remaining affection for this distillery has been driven by three points that are still going strong - number one, the work of independent bottler Tim Duckett's Heartwood, who in many cases has used Lark-origin spirit to incredible effect; number two, the outstanding tours of the distillery when in Tasmania (covered here in detail), and number three, witnessing the passion, enthusiasm, and humility of both the Lark family themselves and the members of the Lark distillery team that I've had the pleasure of meeting either during those tours (e.g. now-distillery manager Craig Johnstone and head distiller Chris Thomson), or on many visits to their Cellar Door (bar) in Hobart. 

The Lark that we're looking at today, official name "Sherry Aged & Sherry Finished 2020", is a limited release that was relatively reasonably priced for what is on offer - $239 AUD for the 500ml bottle at 50.8% ABV. I'm sure the eyebrows of many overseas readers just shot towards their hairlines, but unfortunately, that is the going rate for a higher strength, limited release Tasmanian whisky these days. In fact there are plenty of examples that are priced much, much higher. As you can probably guess, the name refers to a rather unusual maturation regimen, where two 100-litre (Lark Distillery's preferred cask size) ex-sherry casks were tipped into a single "extremely old" 500-litre ex-sherry butt sourced from the excellent Seppeltsfield winery in South Australia. Whether or not this is a single cask bottling will be controversial, and that has been a hot topic recently, since it hasn't been fully-matured in a single cask, and is the result of two casks being combined/vatted into one larger cask for finishing. Personally, I don't think it really matters! Technically, both of those cask types should probably be named Apera (the official name for sherry-style fortified wines produced in Australia) rather than sherry, although it's entirely possible that they pre-dated the Apera ruling, which only happened in 2011. This method of maturing in smaller first-fill casks and then finishing in a larger and older cask is not unheard of, but is quite unusual and is the opposite of what would usually happen in the whisky world, where larger and less active cask/s would be re-racked in to smaller and more active cask/s. That larger tired cask is still technically a first-fill cask though, since it last held fortified wine and hadn't yet been used for whisky maturation, but its age will mean that the oak itself will have had much less impact, while the previous contents, the 'sherry' or Apera itself, will have thoroughly soaked into the wood, and will have plenty of influence on the spirit. This whisky will have some large shoes to fill for me, since this style of maturation would usually be more of the realm of the independent bottlers - so competition from the likes of Heartwood's excellent Market Correction and @#$%^&* 4 for example, which were both distilled at Lark, will be heavy. Should make for a great comparison!

Lark Sherry Aged & Sherry Finished 2020, NAS, 50.8%. Tasmania, Australia.

Matured in two 100-litre ex-sherry casks, finished in one "very old" sherry butt from Seppeltsfield winery. 

Colour: Very dark red-amber. 

Nose: Big, rich and powerful. Sherry monster. Loads of spiced dried fruit, flambéed plum pudding with extra orange peel. Rum & raisin dark chocolate, and some dank and damp old wood. Then some spearmint, more orange peel, and roasted hazelnuts dusted with brown sugar. Great nose! 

Texture: Heavy weight. Big, warming and rich. Oily and relatively soft, but still a slight touch of heat. 

Taste: Sherry bomb, of course! Sweet juicy raisins, more orange peel, Christmas plum pudding and mixed dried fruit. A little black cherry syrup too. A touch of heat, turning into black pepper and an earthy drying astringency. 

Finish: Long length. More black cherry syrup and bitter dark chocolate, orange peel again, and sticky date pudding with brown sugar toffee and some fresh dates on the side. Some wood spices - cinnamon and nutmeg, slight touch of clove - and a slight earthy note drying things out towards the end. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: The quintessential Australian sherry bomb. Does what it says on the tin really, and lovers of 'sherry'-led Australian whiskies, plus the likes of Heartwood, Highwayman et al will of course find this Lark to be right up their alley. This would make for a fantastic Christmas day dram, even in the 30+ degree Australian version of Christmas - OK, maybe once the air con has kicked in! Normally our Australian sherry bombs of this style would be higher in strength, but this Lark doesn't suffer from that reduction at all - in fact it I'd say it actually works in its favour. There's plenty of flavour, and obviously a huge sherry influence - anti-sherry drammers need not apply. The nose on this Lark is fantastic, and the palate and finish don't really disappoint either. I must admit that considering the quality on offer here, the original pricing was really quite reasonable compared to some (most) of the competition, and they could've priced it significantly higher and gotten away with it - it still would've sold out, and if you're on the hunt for one of these now, you may have some trouble!

I'm sure if it was up to the distillery team we'd be seeing much more of this sort of release, forgetting the controversy of the last couple of "Lark Distilling Co." bottlings that seemed to be aimed towards the blissfully ignorant and naïve. Nothing like that to worry about with this release though, this is a faith restoring dram from the team at Lark Distillery. More of these please team!

Cheers!

Port Ellen 30 Year Old Douglas Laing Whisky Review!

An independent bottling of 'ghost distillery' Port Ellen from Douglas Laing's beautifully presented Old & Rare series. Not something you see everyday!

Tasting Port Ellen is never something to take lightly. This is one of the most lusted-after distilleries in the whisky world, and it's certainly the most lusted-after closed distillery in the whisky world. The official bottlings are now ridiculously expensive, to the point where they're well out of the reach of most whisky fans - for example, the latest 40-year old release retails for a whopping $12,500 AUD. That sort of money could buy you three bottles of 40-year old Bunnahabhain, or two bottles of 41-year old Talisker if you prefer, both with enough change leftover to buy a couple of cases of some very good whisky. These official Port Ellens are now more of a showpiece, something to be collected, traded, and admired from a safe distance, more like rare art than bottles of whisky. A few years back, if one wanted to actually taste a piece of this whisky history, they could look to the independent bottlers for more reasonably priced examples, but those are becoming very hard to get a hold of - this whisky is a finite thing, there are only so many casks left in existence, and no doubt Diageo have been hard at work buying back as many of them as they can, destined to join the ranks of the aforementioned showpieces. This situation will have been amplified and accelerated by the news that this long-dead & demolished Islay distillery is being rebuilt - in fact it was due to re-open next year, after the initial announcement back in 2017. It's behind schedule though, in fact I believe planning permission for building was only granted this year, and everything will have been put on hold and further delayed by the global crisis. That reopening - or more accurately, rebuilding, has brought new attention to this now almost-mythical distillery that sounded its death knell back in 1983, and this renewed attention will only place more demand on the remaining stock, which will of course result in more price increases. 

Closed distilleries are an interesting subject. While many are now more widely appreciated, lauded and respected than they were when they were last operational - with Diageo's Port Ellen and Brora and ex-Diageo Rosebank all being great examples - it's important to remember that these sites were not put out to pasture without reason. In Port Ellen's case, in the midst of the whisky slump and British recession of the early-1980s, owners DCL (which would later become Diageo) had to choose one of their three Islay distilleries to send to the guillotine. Caol Ila had recently been rebuilt and upgraded, and was much larger and more versatile - an important factor when its main purpose was and still is pumping out stock for the blenders. Lagavulin was a more realistic option, but it had already amassed quite the cult following at the time, and was of crucial import to the likes of White Horse blended whisky, among others. Port Ellen on the other hand had only been operating for 15 years after a 37-year mothballing, and needed substantial investment for it to meet looming changes in environmental regulations. It also was not in high demand from blenders - possibly due to its austere nature and unpredictability. Blenders want readily-available consistent spirit, and it's important to remember that single malt was still a fledgling thing at this point in time, so a change in demand from blenders could easily make or break a distillery. Between the three siblings, the smallest distillery, with an already-chequered past, and in dire need of investment was never going to come out on top. Don't think the neighbouring Port Ellen Maltings facility had anything to do with the situation either - they had already been operating for nearly a decade by then. But now, nearly 40-years later with the current whisky boom continuing, the laws of supply & demand have thrust Port Ellen back into the spotlight, along with growing 'exclusivity' thanks to its finite nature.  

Rewind a decade though, and the situation was far less drastic. While the official bottlings were already attracting serious price levels at the time, independent bottlings were still around, and were far more reasonably priced in comparison. On a personal note, I have to admit that the (admittedly only two or three) examples of official bottlings of Port Ellen that I've been able to try have actually paled in comparison to the excellent independent bottlings that I've come across from the likes of Signatory Vintage, Gordon & MacPhail and The Whisky Exchange - particularly when you factor in pricing. And the Port Ellen that we're looking at today seems well-positioned to keep that tradition going! This example is from family-owned independent bottler Douglas Laing's 'Old & Rare' series - which unlike many contemporary uses of those terms, featured whiskies that were actually old and rare. This is a single cask bottling of Port Ellen that was distilled in September 1978 when the distillery was going (relatively) strong, and it has been fully-matured in what I would guesstimate was a refill sherry butt - since when bottled thirty-years later in January 2009 it yielded 370 bottles, at a cask strength of 52.5% ABV. It's also non-chill filtered and naturally coloured. 

The sample for this review came from a generous friend who decided to open and share this very special bottle in honour of his father, who unfortunately passed away earlier this year. A fitting and somewhat-sobering tribute, and a great way of remembering and celebrating his life among mates. My sincere thanks to that particular friend for sharing that moment with myself and the rest of the group - needless to say we were all blown away, and the gravity of the occasion was palpable. Afterwards, he actually handed out sample bottles filled with the same special liquid, so we could re-visit that moment later. And with today being Father's Day in Australia, it seemed like the perfect time to raise a glass!

Port Ellen 30-year old, Douglas Laing 'Old & Rare', 52.5%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled September 1978, single cask matured (most likely refill sherry butt), bottled January 2009. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 370 bottles. 

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Surprisingly bright, clean and fruity. Honey, salted potato chips (crisps), crisp red apples & clean brine. Then a drying coastal ozone-y minerality - think drying sea salt, damp volcanic rock and warm sand. Then salted lemons, a very light earthy peat, and a little warm, damp oak. 

Texture: Light-medium weight, but quite oily and builds quickly. Warming, no heat at all. 

Taste: Starts with that honey & apple again before a beautiful salt-crusted sweet earthy peat builds and becomes quite bold. Drying and astringent salted lemons again, but they're also a little sweet this time. A little green peppercorn, thick clean brine, and hints of burning leafy herbs around the edges. 

Finish: Long length. Sweeter here initially with some syrup and more honey, and candied lemon slices. Then more brine, and that astringency turns things dry with damp sea salt, a chunky, crumbly dry earthy peat and a subtle touch of aniseed. More green peppercorns, maybe even a slight menthol hint? Then the apple and salted potato chips return alongside that earthy peat. 

Score: 4.5 out of 5. 

Notes: What a whisky, and what an occasion! The nose on this Port Ellen is almost confusingly soft to start with, very unlike the other examples of the distillery that I've tried previously (again, admittedly not many), it was so inviting, but also so intriguing - no way would I have guessed the distillery based on the nose! But the palate puts the true coastal colours on show with an almost Campbeltown-like brininess and earthiness, but in a more refined and more integrated way - and with evident maturity. Although the peat influence on the palate remains surprisingly substantial - I've actually come across this before in a similarly-aged Laphroaig and Ardbeg, so I don't think the 'peat fades with maturation' rule is always the case, sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too!

I'm actually going to guess that this cask originally held a lighter style of sherry - there's nothing like a modern Oloroso or PX (duh) cask influence here, even refill - it's far more soft and subtle, more of a balanced, joint effort between spirit and cask rather than a competition or even a fight for the spotlight. Aside from the nose perhaps, there's no lack of character or lack of assertiveness, even at this age. 

What a dram, and what a momentous occasion to be tasting this Port Ellen to help honour the late Fred's memory through his son's generosity. This sort of whisky has a way of reminding us enthusiasts of our mortality, or at least it does me - probably because we know that we'll only enjoy a handful of these experiences in our lifetimes. The gravity of the occasion is not lost on me, nor was it on the rest of our group during our toast. Here's to Fred, and happy Father's Day folks.

Cheers!