tOMoH got lucky on Saturday, and only managed to pick samples from OB's bag o' tricks that are not exactly tOMoH's favourite style. Peaters, Sherry monsters, Rye... Today's weather is finally seasonal, so we will have some peaters!
Laphroaig 7yo 2006/2013 (54.9%, Wiebers Brothers, Bourbon Cask, 120b): Wiebers Brothers, rather than Jack Wieber, did this one. Nose: well, it is compatible with the distillery's reputation: TCP, guaicol, antiseptic. It also has smoked paprika, smoked harissa, and saffron capsules where the impregnated plastic is as loud as the threads themselves. Further on are gauze, embrocation and decades-old bandages. tOMoH somehow feels like he just walked into a field hospital from the Great War. Tilting the glass gives away old Tupperware containers baked by the sun. The second nose is less medicinal and more straightforwardly smoky. It is a woolen jumper one wore to a bonfire (think: Feux de la Saint-Jean rather than the British version with firecrackers). There is a drop of brine too and Tupperware gear comes back, filled with preserved lemons. Mouth: crisp, citrus-y and quite sweet, it is acidic too. Calamansi or heavily-sweetened grapefruit juice. A single chew stirs the smoke, and the dram reclaims a bit of its medicinal character too -- only a bit. It takes quite a lot of swirling around for burnt wood and antiseptic to become bolder again, surprisingly -- and then, what comes out are algae, vase water and ashes, rather than bandages. Only a tiny drop of surgical alcohol keeps this linked to the nose. All in all, however, it stays fruity and fresh. The second sip sees preserved lemons in brine, now more acidic, smoked lemons, smoked tangerines, still sweet(ish), despite being impregnated with acrid smoke, a pinch of soot, or, indeed, residue from a chimney-sweep at a cocktail bar. Finish: thin, juicy, it goes down all fresh and citrus-y, then explodes into a cloud of smoke. Iso Betadine, moist-wood smoke, cold tobacco smoke that sticks to one's clothes no matter how many times one washes them, dried algae and lichen in an empty vase. The second gulp doubles down on empty vases, reminiscent of that Tyrone thing, albeit on illegal steroids, here. Beside the lichen-y, algae-like main character, we have an assembly of extras in the background, exuding heat from a charcoal fire. This is not only warming, it probably causes lung cancer in seventeen minutes, from all that coal smoke it generates. Today, that is a good thing. Listen: this will not change lives, but it is perfectly honest a dram. 8/10 (Thanks for the sample, OB)
Lagavulin 12yo b.2013 (55.1%, OB Limited Edition, Refill American Oak Casks): nose: urgh! Bile. You read correctly: it smells acidic and unhealthy. Fortunately, that quickly makes way for fermenting cereals (barley, one would imagine), still humid from the malting floor and ready to be kilned. That kiln, by the way, is not far away; one can easily smell its smoke. It has something of smoked cucumber peels, which is pretty original, and black olives in brine. In the background, someone is spraying windscreen defroster, and that vapourised liquid brings the smoke down a notch -- not that it was too bold to being with. The second nose has unripe apricots, cut then heavily smoked, difficult to recognise, xylene or laser-printer toner, and a lump of blue plasticine in the back. Mouth: it is sweeter than foreseen, yet it still has bile. Butyric, lactic acid, milk on the brink. Chewing brings that milk back to safer-consumption territory and makes for a pleasant texture. However, it also amplifies the barley fermentation; we are left sipping milky barley water in a smoky cafeteria. Some will certainly love that. It is less tOMoH's bag. Mezcal-y eggnog is up next with a mineral touch, now, as if the millstone used to grind the cereals had deposited stone dust amongst the grist and flour. The second sip sprays some defroster on all that, which somehow increases the Mezcal impression and brings agave into the mix. It feels fibrous and a tad drying. Finish: in quick succession, we witness barley water, citrus juice, heat from burning straw, and thick smoke. The tonsils glow like embers for the longest time, as if one were drinking collected water from a peat bog surrounded by burning peat and sphagnum moss. Retro-nasal olfaction emphasises that last note: sphagnum moss, some dried, some alight. The second gulp adds some juice (papaya or guava), which is refreshing, if neither particularly fruity, nor even that juicy. Perhaps it is agave again, or yucca leaves, rather than fruits? The smoke recedes, and it takes a few deep breaths to realise it has simply set camp in the back of the mouth, undetected, until it jumps on the taster like an ambushed predator, at which point, it is all burnt wood and smoked lemons in brine. This is alright. It is not my favourite, but it is objectively well made. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, OB)
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