Laphroaig Triple Wood 2012
Another salvo
from the good people of Laphroaig, the Triple Wood is released without
statement of age; I’d suppose it to be relatively young. Basically an extra-matured iteration of their
Quarter Cask, the whisky first ages in used Bourbon barrels, then in smaller,
18th-century-style European oak casks, before finishing in Oloroso
Sherry butts. I was really excited to
try this when first I read about it, but when I finally got my hands on a
bottle, I was initially left a bit nonplussed.
I had expected an
olfactory hybrid of Speyside and Islay, but this dram was something altogether different. My first impression was that it was a little
oddly put together, almost jangly in the mouth, like an awkward teenager, all
knees and elbows. The Quarter Cask is
not my favorite Laphroaig, and upon opening, the Triple Wood clearly showed the
same ashy, almost industrial smoke.
That said, as I
worked through the bottle, and it saw more and more air, it knit together and
became quite delicious, just as the Quarter Cask eventually did. The more overtly petroleate smoke notes faded
to a cleaner ash, and the Sherried sweetness came to the fore, wrapping its
silky texture around the whole. All in
all, a fine single malt, if a bit spendier than I’d like it to be, at around
$75, and certainly not something to which I’ll return again and again like their
paradigmatic 10-year.
nose: Ashy, mossy smoke, spicy maritime
pierwood; banana peel, pumice, and sweet lemon caramel; smoked salmon and tart
green apples; a hint of nutty chess pie at the finish
palate: Hits the tongue sweet and lithe, with
coursing flavors of saddle leather, Meyer lemon, green papaya, blood, ashy heather,
and salty flesh, with a long, ringing outro of bright citron, butterscotch,
and seawater. The muscular angularity of the 4er cask all done up in lemons and lace; a basket of
apples and roasted nuts next an old campfire by the seaside
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