Laphroaig 20 Year Old Murray McDavid Whisky Review!

20-year old cask strength Laphroaig. Can't really go wrong there! Laphroaig needs no introduction of course, but Murray McWho?

Murray McDavid are an independent bottler that we very rarely see in Australia. In fact they're very rarely seen outside of Europe. But this small and obscure bottler is not exactly short on major milestones, despite having only been around for twenty-five years. The company was established in 1994, and the names of the founders will sound familiar to us whisky geeks: Mark Reynier, Simon Coughlin and Gordon Wright. The former two names are more widely known, but the latter was formerly a director at Springbank Distillery, and as you might guess from that surname, shared with J&A Mitchell's current chairman, he is in fact a descendant of the distillery's founder, Archibald Mitchell. Reynier now owns Ireland's Waterford Distillery, while Coughlin is still based at Bruichladdich but is now CEO of parent company Remy Cointreau's international single malt division. This trio went on purchase Bruichladdich Distillery in 2000, and I think it's safe to say that they basically rescued that now-wonderful distillery and turned its fate around. With a little help from a few others, of course! While the company utilised Bruichladdich's warehouses and bottling hall during their tenure, after the Islay distillery was sold to Remy Cointreau in 2012 Murray McDavid was purchased by whisky brokerage Aceo, and the stock went with it. Aceo also owns what remains of the Coleburn Distillery south of Elgin in Speyside, so that became the home of Murray McDavid and the company's other products, and while the distillery itself closed in 1985 Coleburn's dunnage warehouses and offices have been put to good use. The company also happens to own what remains of Parkmore Distillery in Dufftown, which closed in 1931 but is still in good condition. Oh, and Murray McDavid's logo (pictured above) is a great one: a picture of a dog with the Gaelic words "Clachan-a-Choin", which translates to "The Dog's Bollocks"!!! That cheeky slogan can even be found on early-2000s bottlings of Bruichladdich! 

Well-aged independent bottlings of Laphroaig are far easier to find these days compared to only a few years ago. Well, named independent bottlings of Laphroaig at least! There has been a steady stream of anonymous or subtly-hinted at bottlings, such as Williamson or LeapFrog, that do the absolute minimum to hide their distinctive origins without just coming out & saying it. Thankfully most of these independent bottlings are bottled at cask strength, without chill filtration or artificial colour, and this 20-year old Murray McDavid iteration is no different. Laphroaig at these ages takes on a different character to the younger spirits that we're all familiar with, taking on a softer and more balanced & integrated style, but not yet to the extent of the 25-year old and beyond which tend to become floral as the peat continues to dissipate over those long years spent in cask. There are always exceptions though, such as the mighty 32-year old official bottling from 2015 which had retained more of it's peatiness than I'd expected, and at the other end of the scale the 15-year old official bottling from the same era which was very soft and refined & citrus-y in comparison. But most of those official bottlings are relatively large vattings rather than single casks, so cask selection and blending plays a huge role in determining their final character, allowing the blender to steer the whisky towards the desired character. No such luxuries with single cask bottlings though! Likewise those older official bottlings tend to include some second-fill or refill casks, whereas this independent bottling has been fully matured in a first-fill cask, so there'll be more cask influence. Unlike that of some other Islay distilleries, Laphroaig's spirit tends to handle strong cask influence very well without losing it's character, so I don't doubt that this one has been carefully watched over those two decades of maturation. 

This is quite an old bottling, being distilled in 1988 and bottled at Bruichladdich's bottling hall back in 2008 after 20-years in a single ex-bourbon barrel. It yielded 235 bottles at 52.0% ABV, and is part of Murray McDavid's 'Mission Gold' series, which is their top-shelf brand for the more limited releases. As you could guess from Mark Reynier and comapny, wine casks feature heavily in this range, particularly in cask finishes or additional cask enhancements, as do rum, sherry & madeira casks. And many of these casks we managed and selected by none other than Jim McEwan back in the day! I've only had the chance to try a couple of Murray McDavid bottlings, since this tiny producer is another independent bottler that does not have an Australian importer or distributor, but have been impressed with both examples - although they've been quite heavy on the cask influence, as is their preferred style thanks to the extensive use of cask finishing. This one is a little different though, since it's been fully matured in a bourbon barrel rather than finished in some exotic type of cask. The sample for this review came from a generous fellow whisky nerd who found this bottle at auction for quite a reasonable price considering its age. Let's get to it!

Laphroaig 20-Year Old, Murray McDavid, 52.0%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled 1988, aged in a single ex-bourbon cask, bottled 2008 at Bruichladdich's bottling hall. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 236 bottles. 

Colour: Full gold. 

Nose: Rich, sweet & fruity. Salted butter, charred fresh wood and aniseed. Lanolin (sheep's wool oil), vanilla syrup, coke bottle sweets/lollies and ripe melon. Hint of sour green apple & ashy peat smoke. Sweetened lime juice and touch of oiled leather. 

Texture: Medium weight. Rich, oily, & syrupy. No heat at all. 

Taste: Gentle sweet & fruity entry with floral sweet vanilla and sour green apple. Then thick, charred peat with warm ashy smoke & charred lemon. Melted salted butter and a touch of that aniseed again. Peat builds & dries things out into the finish. 

Finish: Long length. Dried grapefruit, dry spicy peat carried through, with more sour green apple and a touch of red chilli flakes. Charred lemon again with that salted butter & vanilla sugar syrup. Grapefruit comes back through further on. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: A very tasty old Laphroaig, with plenty of cask influence - which certainly seems to be the Murray McDavid style. But since it's "only" a bourbon barrel (and also because it's a Laphroaig!) the distillery character still shows through, albeit a little quieter than some even older Laphroaigs. This bottling shows a buttery, fruity & sweet side to the Islay giant, but there's still plenty of peat and that lovely citrus that in my experience the good older (e.g. 15+ years) ex-bourbon cask Laphroaigs tend to show. This single cask is not as floral as the older bottlings like the 25-year old official bottling, although that's from a few different cask types and is purposely vatted for that different character. There's also not a huge amount of coastal influence in this independent bottling, which could be down to the more assertive cask influence. The bulk of Laphroaig is matured on the mainland, of course, but the distillery keeps all of the special stuff on the island. 

That said, this Murray McDavid bottling doesn't feel like it's missing anything, it's just a different style to what you might expect. And that's exactly what independent bottlings are meant to do!

Cheers!