We first had a sample of this back on a whiskey Wednesday event, and given the course of that was a few folks and multiple tastings one after the other without a proper tasting it earned a solid A. Now though 3 years later it’s time to put it under the lights properly and see whether the Lore of this whiskey holds up. In short it does, but if you’re encountering this review due to a frantic google search in the local liquor store seeing if this is up to snuff – you likely have already spotted the main downside, namely the price tag.
Make no mistake – we’re big fans of this whiskey and if honest the Laphraoig line as a whole. Between the amazing Select, the powerful Three Wood, the peat boggy An Cuan, or smooth Four Oak we have a fondness for the brand. Lore however seems to follow a fairly similar pattern if you look at those reviews. A very smoky taste or aftertaste, not big on smoothness but never harsh, and often costing a bit more for anything beyond the standard prices for something unique.
What they Say: “Bottle Front: The most richly flavoured of all Scotch whiskies
Bottle Back: ‘Lore’ is the passing of skill or tradition through word of mouth.
Encapsulating the craft passed down from generation to generation over two centuries, Laphroaig Lore is our richest expression ever.
Liquid drawn from a selection of aged casks has crafted a rich deep malt with distinctive smoke, peat and seaside minerality.
This is our story. This is Laphroaig Lore.
Box Back:
Since 1815, each Laphroaig Distillery Manager has been the custodian of the craft to make one of the richest single malts in the world. Over the years, each have passed on their skills and traditions to the next generation to continue this legacy. To honour this passing of knowledge, our Distillery Manager John Campbell has created Laphroaig Lore, the richest ever Laphroaig.
Lore, meaning the passing of a skill or tradition through work of mouth, is the story of how we make one of the world’s richest single malt scotch whiskies.
Rich and deep with distinctive smoke, peat and seaside minerality – it is unmistakingly Laphroaig. This is a result of liquid being drawn from a selection of aged casks including first-fill sherry casks, smaller quarter casks and our most precious stock capturing the timeless passion and very essence of the Laphroaig Distillery.
This is our story. This is Laphroaig Lore.”
Taste: 7.0 – It’s a malt, smoke, and woody start with some dried fruit kinda flavor going on. It weirdly feels almost like a combo of a sherry casked islay but not overly bitter.
Aftertaste: 8.0 – Here you get the richness they posit as the flavors are melded together with warm spices and such. That smoke carries on in flavor though growing intensely, and leaving you with a nice lingering aftertaste. If you’re a fan of something that feels like an Islay/Speyside mix – this hits the sweet spot.
Burn/Smooth: 6.5 – It doesn’t go down smooth, but it doesn’t burn either. It goes down like smoke if that makes any sense at all (we assume not). The result is something that won’t be causing you to wince, but it would be untrue to call this a smooth drinking. You will make a noise but it’s more a soft ooh. It is very nice and warming though. Finally – for a neat trick you can burp and the smoke will rise up making you think you’re a fire breathing dragon.
Aroma: 8.5 – It’s not an Islay peaty monster, but the combo of the malt and an almost sea salt like flavors meld together really well. It’s not overbearing, nicely complex and overall just smells fantastic.
Honesty: 7.0 – Well that explains the sherry aspects and the feeling of a blend due to cask differences. Overall the text is a bit long, but it’s also mostly the same bottle to box. That little blurb on the front is really the only demerit here because otherwise it’s all fairly good design and text wise. But claiming something over all whiskies – which it admittedly does a fighting job of – is still too wanky to keep it from the near perfect scores.
Mixability: 8.0
W/ Rocks: 8.0 – It flips the flavors around essentially and what used to be there in the background of the smoke is now brought forward. The result is a more woody and fruit flavored scotch with that smoke now as low undercurrent. Overall it’s tough to say which is more preferable, though we assume that’s more a personal taste. It does also have the added benefit though of making it far smoother going down.
Value: 3.5 – We now come to the reason why despite loving Laphroaig (Select is the single malt of choice at the Buffalo Lounge) this has taken 3 years to go from tasting to review – the price. Now that can fluctuate, but ‘Select’ rests around the 60-65 dollar range meaning this essentially has to be as good as 2 bottles of that. And while yes the richness and complexity here certainly adds more to the pot, it’s not enough quality to beat out quantity of slightly lesser quality. However if you grab this for your scotch loving friends as Christmas nears, well let’s just say they won’t be complaining about the price at all.
Google Shop Average: $134
Website: http://www.laphroaig.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 8.0
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Metric Score: 48.5/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.93 |+| Reviewer Average: 8.0
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Final Thoughts: It was a good scotch 3 years ago when we first tried it in a flurry of other scotches, and it’s delightful to have a bottle on hand. As stated this isn’t going to be replacing the value of Select, but damn that’s a great scotch both neat and on the rocks. An islay/speyside sort of combo is the right blend of smoke and peat with fruit and salt, and we look forward to trying more and more Laphroaig variants.
