You know the smell you get when you’re the cook standing over the BBQ? Laphroaig’s Select offering gives you the same sensations. As soon as you get a whiff of the peaty scotch it’s straight up coals under the grill. It’s not as powerful a smokey aroma as an Ardbeg or Lagavulin, it’s somewhat cleaner. The taste takes you to when you first taste that summer burger, hot off the flames. Somehow the taste is surprisingly light without letting you forget it’s a Laphroaig. It ends with a crisp apple flavour which is refreshing.
It’s a cheaper option than other Laphroaig’s but that’s no bad thing. The reason it is ‘Select’ is the distillers at Laphroaig take whisky from their Quarter Cask, PX Cask and TripleWood (Oloroso sherry) and 10 Year Old offerings to create this blend. Blends are usually more cost effective as they take smaller amounts of premium spirit and mix with larger volumes of lower quality products to speed up production and cater for demand. However, what Laphroaig also do with their Select product is do a final maturation of the blend in American Oak casks, not ex-bourbon as with a lot of scotches. This creates the really clean, crisp nose and taste and makes it stand out.
Overall, a solid option for those that don’t want to break the bank but still want Laphroaig’s signature peaty flavour.