More to Enjoy
- Raided Score: 81
- Publication: SpiritSurveyor
- Excerpt: With current tariff pricing though, that may be difficult and the price might be so high it’s not worth it to buy rather than jumping up a little more to get the cask strength version.
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- Raided Score: 87
- Publication: The Whiskey Jug
- Excerpt: Definitely among my favorite sipping whiskies with a great depth to both the aroma and flavor.
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- Raided Score: 92
- Publication: Whisky Advocate
- Excerpt: The finish is as big as everything else, with barbecue, iodine, and asphalt. Still a classic!
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- Raided Score: 94
- Publication: The Whiskey Wash
- Excerpt: Laphroaig 10 Year remains a beloved classic because of its ability to transport its audience to Islay, a remote and harsh place many will never travel to. It encapsulates much what the average peaty whisky drinker desires and expects.
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- Raided Score: 91
- Publication: WhiskyCast
- Excerpt: The finish has hints of lemon and orange that play well with the smokiness.
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- Raided Score: 91
- Publication: Drinkhacker
- Excerpt: Laphroaig 10 today drinks almost like an introduction to Islay, a whisky where the peat is present but which doesn’t overwhelm the other elements of the spirit. Definitely an easy go-to selection for your holiday fireside dram.
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- Raided Score: 88
- Publication: Whiskey Raiders
- Excerpt: They like it raw and rough, with lots of medicinal smoke and seafood notes.
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Intro:
INTRO: Laphroaig is a Beam/Suntory Scotch distillery in the Islay region of scotch. Known for several core age stated products, they also specialize in unique limited editions. This is their 10 year core expression thats available nationwide.
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Nose:
Sweet cream and buttery lemon zest . Theres brine creeping in and playing well with the lemon and then the big peat smoke hammer drops in. Theres some nice burning telephone pole and a nice nuance of fiery rubber.
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Taste:
The mouth feel is a bit thin but I suppose thats to be expected at 43%. Its smokey and medicinal with a good hint of iodine and dead things from the sea. Theres some nice briney salt and some more sweet butter cream playing nicely as well. Ive noticed as Ive spent much more time with peat, the initial brashness of the smoke is less clouding and I can usually pick up a good deal of less apparent sweetness. This dram is sweet but smokey which makes for a savory combo.
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Finish:
The finish is short/medium but loaded with smoke and vanilla undetones. Little to no heat, which seems just about right for the proof.
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Overall:
This is a gateway dram for sure since it is a nice, low-proof intoduction to how Laphroaig tackles peat. They like it raw and rough, with lots of medicinal smoke and seafood notes. This dram though has been chill-filtered and colored which appears to help in making it a stepping stone for novices since it is definitely "smoother" with a less abrasive mouth feel. It is good though and for $40 around here, its not a bad introduction. For this reason, Im giving this dram a Rank 5. I think itd step it up if it was NCF, NCA and Cask Strength but luckily thematic foreshadowing allows me to alliterate that perhaps theres a dram from Laphroaig that fits all of those criteria to be reviewed soon.
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Score:
5
- Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources