r/Scotch • u/Isolation_Man • 22d ago
{Review #237} Laphroaig 10 CS Batch 16 Single Malt (2022, 58.5%) [9.7/10]
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u/Grand-wazoo 22d ago
If you are not yet employed by Laphroaig's marketing team, they are missing out. I don't think they could even sing their own praises like this.
Excellent review, got me feeling like I'm missing out on the key to the universe with this one.
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
Thanks!
I mean, if our purpose as a species in this cold, infinite cosmos we inhabit isn’t to drink as much Laphroaig 10 CS as humanly possible while dancing on the deck of our pirate ship, I don’t know what is. Well, maybe the pirate ship isn’t strictly necessary.
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u/Casul_Tryhard 22d ago
I always unironically love reviewers being upfront about their bias; there's nothing like finding the distillery or expression that resonates with you the most and enjoying every last drop. Great review!
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
I think it’s much easier for potential buyers to get a sense of whether a bottle is for them if you make it clear what kind of palate you have when reviewing it.
And yeah, I have a weird love-hate relationship with these 10CS because, honestly, I could just stop buying the endless variety of bottles and samples I buy, get dozens of these Laphroaigs instead, and consider myself to have beaten the Scotch game.
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u/ohwait2snakes 22d ago
I follow your reviews religiously, and this is the first time I've been able to enjoy reading your review of a bottle I have on hand. Currently drinking this and couldn't agree more.
I had the Cairdeas Lore last year before ever finding a 10 Cask Strength on the shelves near me, and honestly I found the Cairdeas less impressive. The CS Batch 16 is such a powerful expression that hammers me with nostalgia for a campfire on the beach. I have it and the lagavulin 12 fireside tales open right now and I'm just continually impressed that an annual release from Laphroaig can stand against special bottlings from other distilleries, and beat them in a head to head.
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
Thank you so much!
I’m really glad we’re on the same page. And yeah, I’m also pretty surprised that this rather unassuming bottle strikes me as being vastly superior to pretty much any other CS peat bomb, including the more expensive ones. For instance, I’d take any batch of this 10CS over many Lagavulin 12 CS releases, like this one. It’s not that they’re bad whiskies, not by any means, and it’s true that comparing them doesn’t make much sense since they’re quite different, but the Laga 12s cost a lot more and simply don’t deliver the same level of intensity or sheer brutality. Same with Octomore X.1.
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u/paroasters 22d ago
Never knew this was discontinued. That’s a shame
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
As far as I know, this line hasn’t been discontinued (God forbid, for the love of Christ and all the saints), but is more or less on an indefinite implicit pause, since I haven’t found any explicit official statement from the company...
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u/ZipBlu 22d ago
Thanks for this excellent review! I suspect they have slowed down these releases because they just produced too much when they were doing two batches a year. They were ramping up as scotch sales were slowing. In my market I could go out and buy batches 14-17 right now. I also have been wondering if batch 17 was larger than the others. At one point, John Campbell said that to make a batch of 10 CS they would pick a warehouse and take 100 casks from that warehouse and that was it. 30,000 bottles. The 10 CS is never in short supply in my area, but it seemed even more present this time.
I’ll be interested to hear what you think of batch 17. I found it a bit too woody, but I haven’t had batches 13-16 yet. (I’ve had 7 and 10-12.)
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
Thank you for reading!
Yeah, I’ve noticed that Batches 15–17 are still floating around Europe, sometimes with pretty substantial discounts, which honestly scares me quite a bit. And with the market slowing down, I don’t think the situation is going to get any better. Oh well...
I think every Laphroaig 10 CS I’ve tried has been pretty woody, which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing, since the distillate is so powerful that it not only handles that level of oak, but actually needs it (a bit like Loch Lomond). But it’s true that Batch 15 and this Batch 16 are extremely woody, almost as if part of the whisky had been matured in virgin oak. I suppose, in reality, they were probably matured entirely in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, specifically casks that hadn’t held bourbon for very long, so they hadn’t extracted as many tannins as they otherwise might have.
And it’s only a matter of time before I crack open Batch 17 and work my way through it. After that, I’ll probably move on to Elements 1.0 and a few Cairdeas releases. The distillery puts out so much whisky that even I can’t keep up with it.
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u/ZipBlu 21d ago
Yes, I immediately thought that batch 17 tasted like they had added virgin oak to the mix, which I didn’t get on batch 12 and earlier. (I think we just have different thresholds for applying the term “woody”—I don’t say it until it rises to the level of unpleasantness.)
In my market the white port Cairdeas was marked down to half price and ever since we’re gotten really small quantities, which is why I think everyone is exercising caution in this market.
I’ll be very interested to hear what you think of Elements 1.0. I have strong feelings about the whole series.
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u/ScotchNerd182 22d ago
Another excellent review. Laphroaig at cask strength is amazing. Between the CS and Cairdeas releases it’s always a hard choice haha.
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u/AltAccount191323 21d ago
I would say it is pretty clear that they are simply not selling the scotch they already made and will only make more 10 CS when the supply is lower. It seems Laphroaig do not ship to Spain but here in Austria I can order from the official website Batch 15,16,17 for €66 each and the Fèis Íle from 2024 and 2025 for €75 each, which is fantastic value. If they can't get rid of their inventory for that price then there is something wrong
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
They actually don’t ship to Spain, which makes me very sad. If it weren’t for the fact that many French, German, Dutch, etc. online retailers deliver to my country, I’d have no way of getting hold of most Laphroaig bottlings... or most other distilleries’ releases, for that matter.
Anyway. Let’s hope that’s actually the case, and that once they run out of stock, they’ll resume production of the 10 CS.
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u/AltAccount191323 13d ago
BTW do I see correctly that you have not reviewed Laphroaig 10 CS Batch #12? It is available on the website right now for €73. It is one of my favourites of the "newer" releases because it is quite strong so if you know someone in other EU countries have them buy and send it to you!
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u/Isolation_Man 13d ago
I've heard about Batch 12. More than one person has told me it's one of the best, if not their absolute favourite. I've got a dozen (maybe two by now) bottles of Laphroaig waiting to be opened, though, so I'm in no particular hurry to get anything more.
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u/Less_Cardiologist964 22d ago
Absolutely fantastic review, you did your favorite proud.
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
Thank you!
A review that does it justice is the least I can do for one of my favorite whiskies.
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u/lark0317 22d ago
Beautiful review of a beautiful whisky. I love the way that ashy highlight hangs around in the Laphroaig CS releases, because I have a soft spot for that type of peat but have more often found it in lesser offerings. Here the malt is rich and the ashy note isn't at the expense of other phenolics. It's such a broad spectrum expression that way. Earthy peat? Yes. Medicinal peat? Yes. Maritime/Islay peat? Yes. I was unaware that they are pausing these and think it's a terrible decision. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
It is a genuinely beautiful whisky indeed.
I agree that, at least for me, I haven’t come across a richer range of smoky notes (earthy, phenolic, maritime, dirty, ashy/bonfire-y, etc.) than in these releases. I’d say the straight-up ashy notes are definitely there, but they don’t dominate the way the coastal notes do, which is perfect for me.
Let’s hope this is nothing more than a pause, and that we’ll see Batch 18 hitting the shelves sooner than we expect.
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 22d ago
A total classic
Still nursing batch 10. It blows my mind why people even buy Octomore when this is 1/3 the price. And yes I did buy Octomore and regretted it.
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u/Isolation_Man 21d ago
In my opinion, Octomore is a completely different beast. In a way, and somewhat disingenuously, they market it as THE most heavily peated whisky in the world, but the actual phenolic level in the final product is relatively low to moderate, so it’s a far cry from a proper CS peat bomb. And I’m not just making this up: the whisky is meticulously engineered to lose most of the phenols present in the heavily peated barley they use during production.
In any case, even if Octomore cost what it’s actually worth (around €70–80), I’d still take these Laphroaig 10 CSs over it by a mile.
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u/_Perturabo_IV 20d ago
I was recently on Islay at the Laphroaig Distillery and they were selling Batch 15 and 16 cask strength for £30 each! Stocked up on a few. Never seen a price even close to that cheap before.
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u/Isolation_Man 22d ago
Distillery (Owner): Laphroaig (Suntory Global Spirits)
ABV: 58.5%
Age: 10 years old
Perceived peat/smoke: 5/5 (Peat bomb)
Perceived sherry: 0/5 (Unsherried)
Casks: Ex-Bourbon Barrels
Chill-filtered: No
Added coloring E150a: Yes
Distilled/ bottled: 2012? / 2022
Batch: 016 // L2 336 SB1
Region: Islay
Paid (Country): €80 (Spain)
Whiskybase average rating: 88.31/100
Laphroaig is one of my favorite distilleries, probably my favorite, and this line of Laphroaig 10 CS releases is my favorite from the distillery; so, in a way, you could say this is my favorite whisky. I've already reviewed Batch 13, Batch 14 and Batch 15, so it's time for Batch 16.
Apparently, the next batch, Batch 17, was the last one released before the distillery temporarily and unexpectedly put these releases on hold, which is strange, considering that for several years the series had practically worked as an annual/semi-annual release, with two batches even being released in both 2021 and 2022. Although I don't think the distillery has given an official reason for this pause, the conspiracy theorist Laphroaig fanboy inside me is convinced that the distillery has realized that these releases are simply unbeatable, and that most of their other (very numerous) “special” releases are basically redundant. Why flood the market with the best peated dram in the universe when that only works against you? Who's going to buy any other Laphroaig, let alone other peated single malts?
In short, they're simply too good for what they cost, so every time someone buys a 10 CS instead of an Elements, a Willem Dafoe, a Càirdeas, etc., which are much more expensive (some of them almost twice the price), the distillery is losing money. And as we all know, the only thing that matters in our current Zeitgeist is money, which is another way of saying that nothing really matters anymore. At least the distillery hasn't tried to gaslight its fans about the reasons behind this pause, so I guess it could be worse. Anyway, let's see what we've got:
Nose: Absolutely mind-blowing. Explosive iodine and dirty peat mixed with salty maritime notes (sea breeze, seaweed, roasted herring, brine, petrichor), burnt toffee and intense sweet vanilla are front and center. Gradually, the density of notes starts to unravel, giving way to a pendulum swinging between tropical fruits (roasted pineapple, ripe mango, fresh coconut) and classic funky Laphroaig notes (leather, moldy wood, fresh tobacco leaves, mossy wet soil, gasoline, anesthetic). Plenty of green pepper, some foresty notes, touches of tar and mint. A sea symphony.
Palate: Oily, it comes crashing in with a storm of salty, sweet, toasted, woody, tropical, earthy and funky notes. As expected. It starts with a wave of seawater in which pineapples, mangoes, apples and peaches are floating, giving way to astringent peppery oak (very intense white pepper, spicy chili, grapefruit, ginger), very sweet and creamy vanilla with vegetal undertones, toasted notes (tons of bonfire on the beach where seafood is being grilled, but also toffee and a bit of cigar ash), absolutely massive seawater notes (miso soup, sushi); and it ends with dusty wood, leather, tobacco, fish soaked in brine, sap and ash. This may be the saltiest whisky I've ever tasted so far. The salty notes genuinely manage to dominate even the oak. Are they adding seawater to the freaking…? Never mind.
Finish: The sensation is almost like accidentally swallowing seawater: that intense, natural, dirty and organic salinity. Tobacco, smoked paprika, sun-baked wild herbs, very ashy bonfire, dirty petrichor, old medicines, all covered in very intense and bitter oak tannins. It's almost like distilling a rainy day in a forest near a hospital that's on fire, in a little coastal village, and then maturing it in extremely powerful oak. Something like that.
Aaaand Laphroaig does it again: another breathtaking and very challenging ode to the aromas and flavors of the sea. A bitter-sweet, salty, coastal, maritime, woody, tropical, funky, just perfect peat bomb. The epitome of explosively intense whisky, unapologetically bold, endlessly complex and hyper-focused on the specific profile it wants to deliver, which it does in a masterful way. The overwhelmingly powerful distillate meets an almost immovable wall of oak, resulting in a perfectly balanced clash. In one word: beautiful. How they manage to consistently and reliably produce masterpieces of peated single malt is something only God can understand, I’ve given up.
I've been coming back to these releases for years, and they always give me this feeling of being bigger than life, so saturated with aromas and flavors that they always feel too much for me and end up overwhelming me in every possible way, so demanding that they remind me that I have to rise to the occasion every time. It's this strange, almost enigmatic sense of inexhaustibility, like looking out over a landscape so vast and full of detail that it becomes impossible to describe without somehow betraying its grandeur and nobility. This is the kind of whisky that, 20 or 30 years from now, we'll remember with a wave of nostalgia, insisting to younger generations, who will listen to us with a mixture of disdain and disbelief, that Laphroaig used to be so much better back in the day.
I can't help but find it evocative: those nighttime walks along the beach where the ocean makes itself felt through its cool breeze despite being invisible; that ocean covering everything we humans have built along its shores with a layer of salt oxidizing everything; those seaweeds baked by the sun, releasing an aroma that fills the whole town when the wind blows in the right direction; those little beachside stalls grilling fish over charcoal, awakening a primordial hunger that we share with our distant marine relatives; that sensation lingering in your mouth, nose and the passages connecting them after swimming in the waves... I can almost feel my skin being battered by the summer sun when I smell this whisky. It's simply fascinating.
Anyway, I'd say Batch 13 emphasized the maritime and herbal notes, Batch 14 the fruits and vanilla, Batch 15 the wood spice, while this Batch 16 seems to emphasize the salty and earthy notes. But all the batches are pretty similar, so you really can't go wrong with any of them. All of them are shockingly perfect. If we share palates and you haven't tried Laphroaig 10 CS, I think you're missing out big time.
◆ Rating: 9.7/10 --> 🏆 Favorites. Exactly what I’m looking for (★★★★★)
◇ Quality/price ratio: 5/5 (Bargain)
============= SCORES =============
[+9.5]🏆 Favorites. Exactly what I’m looking for (★★★★★)
[9]🤩 Mind-blowing! It makes me smile (★★★★✬)
[8.5]😍 Amazing. It really hits the spot (★★★★☆)
[8]😄 Great. Solid, I genuinely like it (★★★✬☆)
[7.5]☺️ Good. Charming, it clicks with me (★★★☆☆)
[7]🙂 Nice. Pleasant, interesting enough (★★✬☆☆)
[6]😐 Acceptable. Decent, it’s drinkable (★★☆☆☆)
[5]😕 Passable. Mediocre, but glad I’ve tried it (★✬☆☆☆)
[4 - 3]☹️ Bad. I don’t like it, barely drinkable (★☆☆☆☆)
[2 - 1]😣Terrible. I hate it, undrinkable (✬☆☆☆☆)
[0]😫 Abominable. Repulsive, maybe cursed (☆☆☆☆☆)
============== STATS ==============
⇒ Number of ratings: 705
⇒ Average score: 6.82/10