‘Unlike Anything Else We’ve Released Before’: Laphroaig’s 36-Year-Old Scotch Is a Heavily Peated Celebration of an Essential Component of the Distillery’s Identity

This 36-year-old whisky celebrates the use of peat at Laphroaig. (Photo: Laphroaig)

The Spirits Business reported on Thursday that Laphroaig released the inaugural expression of its new The Wall Collection. The whisky is a 36-year-old expression named “The Peat Edition,” with just 200 bottles available at a suggested retail price of £4,500 ($5,489).

“The Wall Collection is hugely exciting for us, as it celebrates two of the most enduring and iconic elements of our whisky and our distillery: the peat we use to imbue our barley with its distinctive deep, smoky flavor and the striking white walls of our distillery,” Laphroaig Distillery Manager Barry MacAffer said, according to The Spirits Business.

The Wall Collection: Peat Edition pays homage to the importance of peat, which is essential to Laphroaig’s identity, as the Islay-based distillery is known for producing heavily smoky scotches as a result of incorporating this natural element in the whisky production process.

It features a bespoke label hand-painted by illustrator and ceramicist Laura Carlin. Carlin used the same paint the distillery uses on Warehouse No. 1 in Islay.

“The whisky itself is every bit as special as the bottle. Matured in ex-Bourbon casks, this spirit has been finished in a heavily peated cask so we’ve been able to reintensify the smokiness that usually takes a back seat in older whisky. This extraordinary bottle is unlike anything else we’ve ever released before,” McAffer concluded.

The 36-year-old scotch is described by the brand as possessing notes of light fruits and smoke with soft leather and more peat on the finish.

Peat is decomposed vegetation often found in swampy areas and is most commonly found in Scotland. The decayed organic matter is often burned, similar to coal. During the whisky-making process, peat is placed in a kiln and burned under barley, halting the germination process and malting it before it is used in the mashbill.

It is said that peat-smoked barley often has quite a smoky quality.

Interested parties can purchase the expression from specialized retailers or as part of a lottery from the brand’s website. The lottery is scheduled to run Oct. 12-16.

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