Laphroaig Lore

The Maker

For millions around the world Laphroaig represents their first taste of whisky. I’ll go further to suggest that for a significant proportion, it was also their last. Many of us have been in that situation at some point in our youth. A bar with a limited whisky choice and some wise guy offers to buy us a glass because they think our reaction to all that peat will be funny. Sometime it is. Afterall, Laphroaig is so utterly unlike anything else we’ve had at that point. I’ve seen several people gag at the experience. But for the kind of person likely to be reading this, I’ll guess that the reaction was a lot less amusing. Instead I suspect that it was likely followed by a request for another glass, and a look of disappointment on the face of that wise guy as they realised how much extra it was going to cost them compared to the beer you originally asked for.

Given this experience it isn’t surprising that Laphroaig is often what non-whisky drinkers think of when asked to name a whisky. And why it’s perhaps one of the most recognisable brands in the world with its simple white and black branding over dark green glass. It might not quite be up there with Coke's classic red and white cans, but from an alcohol perspective, few bottle designs are so obviously recognisable to the general public.

Laphroaig achieved such a position through several interconnected factors. It was one of the first legal distilleries in operation back in 1815. It has benefited from strong and effective management and marketing over the decades. And perhaps most of all, it has achieved its position through the production of a well loved and distinctive whisky which has a home on any enthusiast’s shelf.

Taking these in turn the story of Laphroaig began when two local farmers leased land on Islay's southern coast to raise cattle. Of course cattle farming wasn’t any easier back then than it is today, so it wasn’t long before they discovered that more profit could be made from turning their leftover winter feedstock into whisky.

From there things grew into a fairly standard distillation business where Laphroaig primarily produced for blenders like Mackie & Co, until they eventually had a falling out which led to what Laphroaig now cheerfully describe as a local ‘water war’ in the late 19th Century where all kinds of mischievous events took place.

After this period, much like the rest of Scotch, Laphroaig had a hard time surviving as the industry went through a significant contraction which saw once popular distillery heartlands like Campbeltown lose almost all of their production. Laphroaig was able to respond in 1921 with the arrival of Ian Hunter who invested in the distillery and expanded it into what is still recognisable today. But beyond this expansion, he is responsible for the production practices and flavour profiles for which Laphroaig is now famous. For example, he went as far as designing certain buildings to maximise the flow of fresh sea air onto the barley in the hope of adding more salty brine into the eventual spirit.

After Ian Hunter came Bessie Williamson. She was one of the biggest names in Laphroaig's history as owner and distillery manager from the mid-1950s through to the early 1970s. She was instrumental in building the Laphroaig brand into one of the world's leading producers and famously introduced it into the American market. Laphroaig have themselves honoured her in one of their recent 25-year-old releases which they subtitled 'the Bessie Williamson Story'. Having tried that once at the distillery I can confirm that it's one of the best whiskies available - if you can afford it.

From this point on Laphroaig became part of several major corporations and are now part of the Beam Suntory group which also includes the likes of Bowmore, Admore and Auchentoshan. It has to be said that a common factor across these brands in recent years has been the sanitisation of core releases compared to the whiskies they became famous for. Something which has led many hardcore fans to seek out independently produced versions of higher strength and flavour.

I'm guilty of this myself and tend to buy a lot more Williamson releases (named for Bessie) than I do of Laphroaig's official bottlings. Yet despite this, the intense profile of Laphroaig is perhaps the least affected compared to the others.

The Expression

The Lore has been a core release since 2016 and has been widely advertised as the brainchild of long time distillery manager John Campbell – who has recently departed to take over as Production Director and Master Blender at the Lowlands’ Lochlea distillery.

I’ve written previously about my suspicion that the Lore was influenced by the success of Caol Ila’s Moch as a non-age statement addition to the core range that permitted the use of younger whiskies in the blend as the whisky boom took off. But unlike the Moch, Lore seems to be a much more thoroughly thought through, and a better value product.

Throughout the marketing you will see references to words like ‘intensity’ as Laphroaig go out of their way to sell the concept that this whisky is one that’s engineered to a level beyond their wider release slate. To be fair to them this seems to be a fair assessment. If anything this release is a celebration of vatting – where large quantities of differing whiskies are blended together to make a batch which can then be replicated over time.

In this case the Lore brings together ex-Bourbon, European Oak, and Oloroso sherry cask of various ratios. Yet it also throws in a measure of quarter casks. These are commonly used by Laphroaig, and other distilleries such as Sweden’s Mackmyra, to speed up the maturation process given the higher surface to volume ratio. It also provides a more raw experience of cask influence which drinkers tend to either love or hate. For a big peaty whisky like Laphroaig this makes a lot of sense as those flavour notes tend to be the first to be lost with age. As such, using quarter casks allows the drinker to experience the best of both worlds, and the distillery has the added benefit of being able to turn a profit a little quicker.

Despite being a non-age statement on the bottle, Laphroaig’s website is open about it being from between seven and twenty-one year old stock. So if we assume that a lot of that seven year old is the quarter cask, we can start to get a good sense of the age of some of the standard barrels included. As ever, there’s only going to be a minimum amount of the older spirit in there, but it’s clearly going to have a positive effect in rounding off some of the sharper edges.

This perhaps helps the Lore to be released at a more hefty 48%, and remain un-chill filtered. No comment is made about colouring on the packaging which suggests some is used. But given how light Laphroaig tends to be, and the fact it remains hidden behind its traditional dark green glass, I would suspect only minimal usage for the sake of consistency. Afterall if the batch mix is as complex and varied as they imply, then it’s reasonable to expect significant colour variance.

The last thing to say about the Lore is that’s one of the few whiskies which seems to be getting cheaper over time - at least in the UK. I can remember this costing in the region of £80 a few years back, but now it seems to be frequently retailing in the low to mid-sixties.

The Neck Pour

Like most Laphroaig offerings the first whiff is reminiscent of a pack of waterproof plasters. But not just any waterproof plasters, specifically those thick terracotta coloured ones that always last much longer than lesser supermarket brands. This is swiftly followed by much lighter and fruiter notes of green apples and even a hint of uncooked sweet pastry. But the subtleties of all that quickly take a backseat to the rich BBQ peat-smoke that Laphroaig is so well known for. That intense medicinal brine which the southern Islay distilleries achieve in a way no one else has ever matched – save perhaps Ledaig.

All of this is then delivered upon on the palate. You get the smoke, you get the brine, you get the salty shoreline. Yet what follows from this mix is a rich minerality which transitions into both sweet and savoury flavours as the sherry notes kick in. The complexity of the Lore’s vatting process really shows through at this point and differentiates it starkly from the rest of the core range. Finally this all comes together as something akin to a sweet cured mackerel fillet on the finish.

My first impression is that this batch is delivering everything I’ve come to expect from the Lore. Sure it might not be quite as on point as earlier additions which from memory seemed to be much more sherry forward, but for the price point it remains an enjoyably complex, but accessible dram. What it is missing however is that slap in the face which the classic ten year old is so famous for. Coming back to the original marketing blabber of ‘intensity’ then I have to question if that’s really a good description of the Lore. If anything it’s the most subtle Laphroaig out there for under £100.

The Body

With the benefit of a few months open on the shelf this bottle is no less engaging. That medicinal BBQ smoke is just as strong, yet the sweeter sherried notes are definitely come through much stronger and sweeter than they were upon opening. This invigorated sweetness carries through to the taste, which is now followed by a noticeably stronger bourbon char which was initially hidden in all that peat smoke.

These subtle changes don’t serve to strengthen or weaken the dram to my mind. Instead they simply change it while retaining the same level of quality and enjoyment. One thing that I’ve really noticed when drinking my way through this bottle is how much my experience of it varies depending on what I contrast it with. Compared to something like Caol Ila’s recently reviewed red wine matured distillery exclusive the Lore is notably less complex. Yet when put against anything from the cheaper end of the spectrum and it easily blows it away. That definitely speaks to how well Laphroaig have placed (and perhaps more importantly priced) the Lore in the market as a bridging whisky between entry level, and those looking for ways to branch out and explore new flavour combinations.

Final Thoughts

Whenever I come back to this Lore I’m immediately reminded of how good a product it is. While the flavours haven’t changed from what’s described above in the second half of the bottle, it has never become a whisky I’ve got tired of. Sadly that isn’t something I can say about several of the other core range releases.

Given that the Lore is so closely linked to John Campbell i'm a little worried about what might happen to it now that he has departed for a new set of challenges at Lochlea. Hopefully Laphroaig have the good sense to maintain it for many years to come.