WHISKY CLUB
WHISKY CLUB
THE
Welcome to West Coast Review’s The Whisky Club. Each month we will sample a malt from the Oban Whisky and Fine Wines selection and share the opinions of a group of whisky enthusiasts: islander Angus MacPhail, musician and co-owner of the Skipinnish brand; local Highland games heavyweight competitor Craig Nicholson; Oban Times and West Coast Review journalist Euan Paterson; piper and whisky tasting champion Alas- dair Murray; and Euan Finlayson, a connoisseur of single malt whisky and manager of Oban Whisky and Fine Wines.
THE ISLANDER Angus MacPhail
THE PIPER Alasdair Murray
This month’s dram is the Laphroaig Triple Wood
quarter cask, finished in a sherry cask.
Price: £55
I will defi nitely be back for a few bottles of this whisky. Pipers are known for drinking whatever is available at the time but I think I’ll make sure I carry one of these bottles about with me, just to make sure it’s there. I once won a blind tasting com- petition in the Bowmore Hotel on Islay and we had the Laphroaig Triple Wood in the second round. Unlike this one, which has the sherry fi nish, you could easily tell it was a Laphroaig. And at my recent fl at warming in Soroba Road we opened a Laph- roaig to celebrate, so I’m a big fan of the distillery. This is a nice, smooth dram with all the right notes of a Laphroaig. I’ll defi nitely be buying a lot more of this. Rating: 9/10
I like Laphroaig but it is usually more vicious than this. The Triple Wood has energy but with a nice, smooth fi nish. It’s like the Laphroaig 10-year- old’s more pleasant cousin. One of the fi rst whiskies I tried was a Laphroaig. I was playing a gig in McGochan’s Bar in Tobermory and a yachtsman bought one for me. I couldn’t believe how hard it was and, when I expressed that initial re- action, the yachtsman was severely miffed! I knew then how popular the Laphroaig whiskies were. I’ll only have a Laphroaig in certain company, or when I’m a certain mood. It’s not typically a session whisky but this bottling could be because it hasn’t got the wild craic of a standard Laphroaig and would be a lot safer if you are spending a night on it. It’s certainly got the saltiness of a Laphroaig and the fi nish is nice. From the 10-year-old you get a hit at the front of the mouth and it im- mediately growls at you, whereas this one has an intensity that creeps up on you.
Rating: 8/10
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