Laphroaig 10 Years Old

For most drinkers the 10 Years Old is Laphroaig, the benchmark against which every other peated Islay malt gets measured. It is the distillery's flagship and its calling card: tar, iodine, brine and smoke, unmistakable from the first nose.

Ten years in ex-Bourbon is enough for the American oak to lay vanilla under the peat without ever taming it. The malt is heavily peated, around 40 to 55ppm, part of it still kilned over Islay peat on Laphroaig's own floor maltings.

At 40% the guaiacol and phenols read as medicinal smoke and iodine, edged with leather, moss and a rubbery, cooked-vegetable note that regulars know well. The shape of Laphroaig in a single glass.