Laphroaig 10 Years Old Islay Malt (Vintage Italian Bottling)

The label is the story here: this rare 10 was bottled for the Italian market under the old Islay Malt Scotch Whisky designation, decades before the modern single-malt category settled. Collectors prize it for the era it represents as much as the liquid.

Inside is the Laphroaig of its day, ten years in ex-Bourbon, the malt heavily peated over Islay peat at the distillery near Port Ellen.

At 40% the medicinal peat and iodine come through in the classic mould, the vanilla of the bourbon oak beneath. A bottle bought for its history.