Williamson (Laphroaig) 2005 13yo (A.D. Rattray)

Today we’re headed thankfully back to Islay from our swim with the Bourbon cask Speysides. We’ve got an A.D. Rattray cask strength bottling of a 13 year old bourbon cask aged Laphroaig. Sounds promising, lets see how it tastes.

This is part of a series of blind tastings from the “The Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 5th Edition” advent calendar. I do not know what is in the calendar, so every one of these reviews is 100% no prior knowledge.

1. Macduff 2003 14yo (Single Cask Nation)
2. Wemyss Wooden Chest
3. Lost Distillery Company Auchnagie Classic
4. Glen Moray 2008 9yo #5764 (Secret Spirits)
5. Craigellachie 12yo 2006 Cask Strength (Secret Spirits)
6. Exclusive Malts Islay Sherry Cask (Laphroaig)
7. Adelphi Breath of Speyside 2006 (11yo)
8. Balmenach 2004 13yo (Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask)
9. Glen Moray 2007 10yo (A.D. Rattray)
10. Royal Brackla 2006 11yo (Secret Spirits)
11. Wemyss Delicious Burst
12. Lost Distillery Company Stratheden Classic
13. Auchinderom - Peated Glenglassaugh (Malt Whisky Company)
14. Knockdhu 2009 9yo (A.D. Rattray)
15. Caol Ila 2009 9yo (Secret Spirits)
16. Wemyss Nectar Grove
17. Glentauchers 2008 10yo (Secret Spirits)
18. Glenallachie 2009 9yo (Secret Spirits)
19. Williamson (Laphroaig) 2005 13yo (A.D. Rattray)
20. Stones of Stenness Orkney Aged 18yo (Single Cask Nation)
21. Inchgower 1995 21yo (Hunter Laing Old Malt Cask)
22. Towiemore Archivist (Lost Distillery Company)
23. North British 1988 30yo (A.D. Rattray)
24. Inchmurrin 1996 21yo (Secret Spirits)
25. Glen Grant 1988 30yo (A.D. Rattray)

---

Distiller: Laphroaig
Bottler: A.D. Rattray
Distilled: 2005
Bottled: 2018
Age: 13yo
Cask type: ex-Bourbon
Source: Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar
Setting: Blind

---

Nose: Ashy stale cigarette smoke, tobacco, some chocolate and capsicum.
Palate: Bitter leather, ashtray, earth. Reasonably light, if I had to guess I’d say this is not cask strength.
Finish: Dominated stale cigarette smoke, some cherry and brown sugar. But ashy is the key word here.
Overall: Certainly a smoke forward whisky, but something has gone off the rails here. It seems like they’ve replaced the peat in this situation with a gaggle of smokers. SWMS “Old dude that smokes 6 packs a day just got on the bus”. I don’t know what it is, but it’s gone a little far here.

Rank: 4
Reveal: Don’t get me wrong, I like Laphroaig. Perhaps it was the sequence of things I tasted it in tonight, but I did not like this pick at all. No actually whisky complexity, just all ashy second hand cigarettes to me. Ah well, can’t win them all?