Laphroaig Lore Review

Laphroaig Lore—a single malt whisky that some people love and some people love to hate. The love for Lore comes largely from a flavor profile that tends to get people excited—Islay peat smoke combined with sherry sweetness. The hate comes from the fact that Lore is a no age statement (NAS) expression that essentially replaced the 18 year old (which some people really liked, myself included) in Laphroaig’s standard lineup and is priced a little… high (higher than the 18 year was when it was discontinued). It’s bad enough when a distillery removes an age stated expression in favor of an NAS, but when it’s also priced higher than the age statement whisky it replaced, people tend to get upset (justifiably so).

Lore includes whisky that was aged in a combination of cask types. It seems that the exact cask makeup may vary a bit from batch to batch, as the cask information listed on my bottle does not match the information currently found on Laphroaig’s website (I believe that my bottle is the first batch), but at the very least it seems Lore includes a combination of ex-sherry casks and ex-bourbon casks, with other casks possibly involved too. Although this is an NAS release, Laphroaig has stated in several places that Lore is a vatting of various ages between 7 and 21 years old—which makes this a seven year old whisky (unofficially). Furthermore, according to Distillery Manager John Campbell:

Laphroaig Lore is the story of Laphroaig itself. It’s a massive whisky, as bold as it is deep, and one that I sincerely hope does justice to the many generations of Laphroaig distillery managers. It’s our story, bottled, the richest of the rich.

The richest of the rich? That’s quite the bold statement. That kind of marketing, along with Lore’s hefty price tag and NAS status, is probably one of the reasons many people on the interwebs have so heavily criticized Lore. It’s tough to live up to being the richest of the rich when Laphroaig already claims to be “the most richly flavoured of all Scotch whiskies.”

As I do with any whisky, I try to ignore the marketing and public chatter (both positive and negative) when tasting and reviewing Lore. Like I said in my recent review of Macallan Classic Cut, I’m judging this whisky on its own merit and do not take the marketing or any other factors into play in my review (although I will talk about its price/value in my final thoughts).

So does it live up to Laphroaig’s bold statement of richness? Or is this another disappointing NAS release? Let’s take a look.

Laphroaig Lore Review

Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Islay
ABV: 48%
Non chill-filtered

Nose

Typically big Laphroaig nose, with plenty of medicinal peat smoke and iodine, but sweetened. Sherry. Raisins. Fruit jam. Plenty of fruit, including figs, strawberry, blackberry, apricot, lemon, and orange zest. Mint. Black licorice. Clove. Quite enjoyable.

Palate

Plenty of peat smoke, but less medicinal than the nose—more on the bonfire side of peat smoke. Green pepper. Clove. Berry cobbler. Raisins. Almond and amaretto. Figs. Rose water. Somewhat floral. Velvety and slightly oily mouthfeel.

A drop of water brings out quite a bit of lemon, but diminishes some of the other flavors and thins the whisky out too much—I prefer this one without any added water.

Finish

Long and dry. Phenolic peat smoke. Pepper. Dark fruits. Strawberry. Cinnamon. Spices. Amaretto. Licorice. Sugary breakfast cereal (Fruit Loops?).

Overall

Lore is a good single malt. Very good. When I first opened my bottle, I thought it might even be great, but Lore actually diminished a bit after the bottle was open for a few weeks, becoming slightly less interesting (which is the opposite of what I usually find in a good whisky). It did seem to stabilize after that and was good the rest of the way to the end of the bottle (which I’ve nursed over the course of the last year).

Big, full, complex, and yes, rather rich. There’s no real weak spot here, although the green pepper note on the palate is a little more prominent than I would personally prefer. Compared to other sherried and heavily peated single malts, this is one of the better ones I’ve tried.

SCORE: 89/100

Final Thoughts

I really like Lore, even though I would greatly prefer that Laphroaig had kept the 18 year expression around instead (or in addition to Lore). Is it rich? Yes. Tasty? Yep. The best Laphroaig I’ve ever had? Or the richest Laphroaig I’ve had? No, it’s not. And even though I like it a lot, Lore is overpriced. Really overpriced.

The obvious comparison here is to Ardbeg Uigeadail, another heavily peated Islay single malt with some sherry influence. And I like Lore better than Oogie (slightly). But I can get a bottle of Uigeadail for about $60 less than I can get Lore. Which basically means I could buy a bottle of Uigeadail and still have enough money for a bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask for the same money it would cost for a single bottle of Lore. I may like Lore better than Oogie, but not that much better.

Buy again? Maybe. If this were more reasonably priced, then definitely, but coming in around $130 or so… there are other Islay malts I enjoy just as much (or almost as much) for considerably less money. Still, even though it’s overpriced, I might break down and buy another bottle someday.

Drink This Not That: Drink this if you have money to burn. Otherwise turn to a more affordable Islay dram, such as Ardbeg Uigeadail. I do think that Lore is better than Uigeadail, but not so much better that it’s worth the vastly higher price.

Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.

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