Mar. 15: Online Tasting with Laphroaig's New Distillery Manager, George Campbell......
Fellow Drammers!
We’re excited to invite you to join a special online Laphroaig tasting that we’re hosting on Saturday, March 15th, starting at Noon Pacific / 3pm EST in the US, which is 8pm on Islay. We’ll be welcoming George Campbell as our guest speaker, who was brought on this past October as the new Distillery Manager at Laphroaig. He has a remarkable career, starting at Laphroaig as a tour guide from 2008 to 2012, then 3 years with Diageo (mostly at the Talisker and Mannochmore distilleries). He followed that up with 5 years leading operations at the Balvenie and Glenfiddich distilleries, and most recently spent 3 years running distillation and operations at a distillery in Australia (78 Degrees Distilling). That’s a heck of a resume!
We of course want to make sure to give him a big, warm Drammers welcome. And we do mean big. Check out this lineup:
33yo Strong Characters Chapter 1: Donald Johnson. Beginning with the pioneering Donald Johnston, who with his brother, created the iconic Laphroaig whisky we all know today. This Islay whisky was aged for 33 years in a combination of American oak barrels and European oak sherry hogsheads, giving it a distinctive smoky character and robust flavour profile. 43.8% abv.
30yo Laphroaig (2024 Edition). Reportedly this new release will be the first in an annual series. This single malt spent its years maturing in a selection of American oak barrels and European sherry hogsheads and butts.
Feis Ile Distillery Exclusive Single Cask Sherry Series #5944. We picked up this ultra-rare bottle which was only available at the distillery gift shop during Feis Ile last year. It was distilled in 2011, bottled in March 2024 and this is one of only 300 bottles. It was released as part of the Laphroaig Team Sherry series 2024. 56.1% abv
22yo Distillery Exclusive - Protectors of the Peat Single Cask #4045. This is another bottle we picked up at the distillery during Feis last year. Distilled in 2000, bottled in October 2024. They don’t disclose the cask type on the label, which simply states that it is single cask #3. 1 of 196 bottles, 51.9% abv.
Jack Rose Single Cask #1028. We are very proud to be close friends with the team at the great Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington DC. This single cask selection by them is a 9yo, distilled in 2013 and aged in a refill bourbon cask. 1 of 252 bottles, 52.5% abv, and we were proud to secure an allotment of this single cask pick for the members.
2024 Cairdeas Release - Cask Favourites 10yo. This was last year’s edition of the much anticipated annual Feis Ile release. This edition featured a bold combination of flavours from the casks of two popular previous releases: 2019’s Triple Wood and 2021’s PX Cask. 52.4% abv
Elements 2.0 (Cask Strength). Elements 2.0 is a fun one, and it doesn’t hurt that it was awarded Whisky of the Year 2024 by the Whisky Advocate! This non-chill filtered whisky was designed to show the flavor impact of an extended fermentation process. Normally Laphroaig operates on a 55 hour fermentation period, but this release featured an extended fermentation of up to 115 hours, which introduced some extra tropical fruit notes. 59.6% abv.
Plus three core range expressions to use as reference points: Laphroaig Lore, 10 year old, and 10 year old sherry matured.
That’s our lineup, we hope you can join us! Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Cheers,
Drammers Club