Even more booze!

In lieu of my little stimulating trip to Scotland recently, this seems like as good a time as any for another edition of Drwhyn's Drink Time (DDT for short!)!

Today's subject will be Islay, the southernmost island in the Hebrides that is home to probably the most famous distilleries among afficienados.

It houses the distilleries, in no particular order mind you, Caol Ila, Bruichladdich, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Bunnahabhain and Kilchoman.

Having tried some of the finer spirits from some of them, we should start with Laphroaig, perhaps the most widely known of them in Sweden. The kind that most people are familiar with from that distillery is the regular 10 year old, at 40% abv, that has an incredibly powerful aroma of tar. Yes, you did not misread, tar. It is not just smoky, it tastes and smells more or less entirely of tar. It is, to my humble experience, not a particularly delicate sort, and it isn't really trying to be either.

But it we were to take a step up, to the 18 year old, then it becomes an entirely different matter. Here we immediately notice the effect that aging has on it. It is vastly more complex in every way, with a much smoother taste to it, yet packed with a thousand flavours all at once. However, it posesses very little in the way of a finish, IE the smokiness will not stay with you for very long.

Moving on to Lagavulin, this I would say is a slightly more exclusive brand, but one that is also widely known. They actually allowed us to try their double-matured whisky, which has been stored in two different casks during the maturation process. Therefore, the colour is very dark for a whisky, and the taste and smell are both spectacular. The smokiness isn't exactly as powerful as Laphroaig, but there are plenty of hints of sweetness, wooden flavour and many others, though perhaps a tad powerful.

The ones we bought bottles of was their 18 year old "standard". All in all, it was simply amazing. Not much more can be said than that it is the quintessential whisky, it is all that whisky is supposed to be. You'll understand once you try it!

If I can be bothered, I'll throw in a little recap of the spirits from Ardbeg at a later time.