Laphroaig 18 Kinship 2019 Edition No.5 - 56.4%

An 18 year old Laphroaig from the Kinship 2019 Collection, selected by industry legend Jim McEwan.

From the Hunter Laing website

This is the first Kinship Collection since the company inaugurated its first distillery at Ardnahoe, the newest on Islay, and to commemorate this each of the bottles in this year’s collection are from Islay distilleries.

Cask Type: Oloroso Refill Sherry Butt

56.4%Vol

Absolutely brilliant, muscular and memorable. The aromas are sensational. Once you get your breath back relax a little and get ready for the thrill of catching the wave. The combinations of sherry, oak syrup, medicine, liquorice toffee and the nuttiness from the sherry casks is awesome. It’s incomparable, just go with the incoming tide.

Tasting notes: 

Appearance: Old gold, form is a thick line which eventually falls as thick, oily legs.

Nose: Rich, booze soaked dried fruit, lemon thyme, honey and that signature medicinal peat smoke.

Palate: Thick, syrupy mouthfeel. Raisins and sultanas, hints of tropical fruit and salted caramel, honey, toasted almonds, phenolic peat, ginger spice and oaky tannins. Addition of a few drops of water have a detrimental effect, flattening much of the flavour profile.

Finish: Sweet soft brown sugar, black liquorice, more dried fruit and a hint of sea spray. Ginger and black pepper add a touch of spice.

Summary: I’ve been a Laphroaig fan for over 35 years and have sampled many of their expressions in that time. As a result, I tend to get a little apprehensive trying anything older than 15 years old. The reason is simple enough, with Laphroaig longer maturation leads to ‘less smoke, more oak’. That big phenolic slap in the face I get from younger expressions is what drew me to Laphroaig in the first place, and so I have occasionally been disappointed with older, significantly less peaty bottlings.

This Kinship bottle however, is absolutely outstanding. Beautifully syrupy, rich, slightly sweet and exceptionally well balanced. The combination of the phenolic Laphroaig spirit with refill Oloroso sherry casks is a marriage made in heaven. Although toned down, the medicinal peat still makes its presence felt and adds layers of richness and complexity. It’s a big, chewy whisky but it’s also refined. Perfect neat, despite the high abv I wouldn’t recommend the use of water with this whisky. 

At an original retail price north of £200, and now far more on the secondary market, this is very much a single malt at the premium end of the spectrum. However, it is a truly exceptional whisky and, whilst it sits outside my price range, would be very close to the top of my wish list. It made me smile as soon I started nosing, and I didn’t stop until long after the finish from the last sip had disappeared. What more could you want from a whisky?

This whisky was bought as a dram from the bar at the Ardnahoe Distillery. For more details of the distillery, Hunter Laing and their current range of whiskies, follow the link.