There is a lot going on here. The nose, palate, and finish are very deeply layered. I felt the need to sit down with a knife and fork and really dig into this. There is a complexity which walks just up to the border of “busy” without actually crossing into hostile territory.
The taste starts off light and thin, followed by a blast of smoke, creosote, cinnamon, and tar with underlying vanilla and oak notes in the background. The finish is long and smoky with lingering spices.
It’s a big bold complex whisky, but it carries an amazing sense of balance – like a bulldozer balanced on a razor blade. A big smoky spiced fruit cake bulldozer balanced perfectly on an orchard fruit razor.
The flavors stay generously long on the palate, finishing with a smoky-salty, warm heat. This is a perfect cool weather whisky that begs for fireside sipping.
Lore doesn’t reinvent the wheel (Laphroaig would likely argue that it merely rediscovers it), but it’s not one that was in need of reinvention in the first place.
Overall, this is disappointing and a shame that they think $120 for this bottle is reasonable or justified. What notes there were, I enjoyed but there was a lack of complexity and boldness which is disappointing, especially for a product marketed to represent the "Lore" of the distillery.
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House Review
Nose:
Evergreen, vanilla, pound cake, tropical fruits,thin cocoa, definitely laphroaig smokey. Dead sea things, bandaids, some brine.
Taste:
Thin mouth feel, feels like the 10yr. Sweet bubblegum, smoke, char, and not much else. I feel like theres a lot of character here but no real intensity.
Finish:
Medium, hot and not complex. Smokey vanilla with sweet honey. The smoke is even short lived and doesnt carry like Laphroaig smoke usually does.
Overall:
Overall, this is disappointing and a shame that they think $120 for this bottle is reasonable or justified. What notes there were, I enjoyed but there was a lack of complexity and boldness which is disappointing , especially for a product marketed to represent the "Lore" of the distillery. Im going to rank this a 5 - its good and fine but no better than the 10 to me. Id take the QC or the Cask Strength any day with no hesitation whatsoever.
Score:
80
By t8ke
Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources
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