Laphroaig 15 Year Old Scotch Review

One of the most loved Islay Scotches for whisky nerds has finally returned to the market after over a decade away. This time it is not a limited one off. It is a full return to the core range.

Described as King Charles’ favourite whisky, this legendary Islay dram is reportedly the go to pour for those meaty royal hands.

From pairing with Willem Dafoe for a celebrity partnership to handling employee concerns across Islay, it has been an interesting few years for the distillery.

Bringing back the laphroaig 15 feels like a deliberate move to rekindle the romance with long time fans. First launched back in 1985, the 15 year old disappeared as a core bottling in the late 2000s. It made a brief cameo in 2015 for the anniversary, but now it is back and bottled at 46% ABV, natural colour and non shill filtered.

Nose

The moment the cork popped, that classic and fantastic froggy note filled the room. Deep medicinal smoke, sea salt, and thick oily peat. There is a clean sweet note with toffee, rich caramel and melted Caramac bars.

Palate

This is a Laphroaig. It has a beautiful, creamy, thick texture that coats the mouth providing crisp clean iodine smoke. Apples, mackerel, dried apricots, grapefruit with a tangy smoke which is quite contrasting to a dirty Ardbeg smoke.

Creamy tropical juice with burnt custard tarts it leaves a medium satisfying finish.

Beam Suntory, take a bow. While it feels like they have not had their eye on the ball recently, the laphroaig 15 is an absolute comeback. This bottle absolutely slaps, and this is the standard of quality the entire core range should hold itself to.

At just shy of £80, it is a stretch for the penny pinchers. However, given the quality, I would happily take this over the Laphroaig Lore.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This bottle was sent to the Whiskey Wash for review which was then deflected through to me. This review is fully independent with no connection to the brand but meant that I didn’t have purchase it myself.