Laphroaig 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch

Full golden appearance. Medium-bodied. Salt, iodine, peat, smoke. A fragrant nose of medicinal peat and heather leads an oily feeling palate with a big kick of iodine and seaweed flavors racing through the finish. Essence of Islay, and not for the faint hearted.

Aromas of new shoe leather, iodine, smoked trout, flowers, intense grain, soft cheese, peat-reek and dried seaweed. The palate entry is pleasantly smoky and grainy sweet; the midpalate flavors range from olive brine, seaweed, iodine, and wood smoke to baked pear, toffee and marshmallow. Concludes warm and toasty.

Good, yes; delicate, no. Clocking in at a potent 57 percent alcohol, this is entirely Laphroaig (in fact, if you don’t add any water, it’s so Laphroaig that it hurts). The aroma suggests tar, peat resin, smoke and a touch of burnt rubber; the flavor is similar, though there’s also a viscous richness to the texture, as well as a surprise hint of apple fruit, all of it lasting long.