WHISKY REVIEWS, NEWS, HISTORY & FOLKLORE
An introduction to Laphroaig?
This is a re-review of sorts. Back in 2019, I reviewed the Laphroaig Select, a whisky created to offer a softer entry point into the boldly flavoured world of Laphroaig. To all intents and purposes, the Oak Select is the same whisky slightly rebranded but a bottle came into my possession recently and I thought it might be fun to see how it has developed since my last encounter.
It would be fair to say that the Laphroaig Select concept wasn’t the most popular when it first appeared. Perhaps there was a feeling that “the most richly flavoured of all Scotch whiskies” shouldn’t need to tone itself down. This is a distillery that proudly plastered its walls with customer comments that read “It’s like being kicked in the face by a horse that’s been running through a peaty bog”. You can see why the release of Laphroaig-lite seemed like a helluva change in direction.
I last reviewed this dram (or its predecessor, at least) in 2019 and the whisky world has changed a fair bit since then. The Covid-inspired boom in sales has come and gone. Bottles aren’t shifting the way they used to. Auction sales are slow. The big online retailers are running raffle competitions and holding flash sales to dump their excess stocks on shoppers who find themselves with shallower pockets by the day. There has, therefore, never been a better time to check out some of the budget-friendly whiskies on the market and Laphroaig Oak Select certainly comes under that bracket.
Laphroaig Oak Select Review
The whisky is said to consist of spirit that was matured in an array of different casks including oloroso sherry butts, white American oak, Pedro Ximenez seasoned hogsheads, quarter casks and first-fill bourbon casks. There’s no age statement and the whisky is reduced to 40%. Probably safe to say there’s colouring added and very likely that it’s been chill-filtered.
Tasting notes: The nose is actually fairly interesting. The smoke comes through, though certainly not as powerfully as you might expect and there’s a youth about it, almost a new make note, that suggests a slight lack of maturity. I found coal ash, liquorice and aniseed, old leather and burnt caramel. Vanilla pods and gristy malt and even a touch of slightly sour sherry. The palate paints a different picture, though. There’s honey and malt followed by some black pepper, ash and charcoal. The impression of smoke doesn’t arrive until the finish but it’s muted, dampened and distant. Like someone has long since extinguished the famous Laphroaig kilns with a large bucket of water and only the ghost of the fire remains. A wee dark chocolate note came through at the end.
Thoughts: I think it would be wrong to call this a bad whisky because, in truth, I quite enjoyed sipping it. It just feels like a disappointment because of what I’ve come to expect from the famous green bottle with the white label. You see that bottle, you expect a peaty slap around the chops and with the Oak Select, it just doesn’t arrive. In fairness, the nose has some complexity but the palate is unable to live up to that promise and that adds to the feeling of an anticlimax.
Perhaps I’m being a wee bit unfair. Every modern distillery produces a wide variety of styles. Why should Laphroaig be any different? Is it unique in the whisky world as the one distillery that should never deviate from its house style? I’m not sure that’s a healthy position to force a brand into. Creativity, experimentation and new direction should always be encouraged. The question is, has the new direction created a whisky I can get behind? In 2019, I said that the Oak Select probably compares strongly to the other bottles on the supermarket shelves. I draw the same conclusion this time around. It’s not a great dram but if you shop at supermarkets and only have a small budget, this is probably one of your better options.
Price: £29 RRP – though often discounted in UK Supermarkets. I’ve seen it as low as £20. At that price, you can’t really complain too much. Even if it is Laphroaig-lite.
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