Laphroaig and Bowmore

The Cabinet met two weeks ago tomorrow, Tuesday evening, June 7 and I am here to tell you that two weeks is a very long time in the life of those neurons in my brain that have been assigned to remember tastes, so I do apologize for the scantiness of this report and pledge to return to more timely and thus more thorough reporting next time.


The foregoing notwithstanding, I can however report that a good time was had and that a good many good whiskies were sampled. The Cabinet welcomed a new member, Cory, who treated us to a fantastic moose meat pate, made with Laphroaig quarter cask in the place of the usual cognac. I couldn't get enough of it! We also had the pleasure of welcoming an international guest, Carissa, who came to us from the "Oak League" whisky appreciation club in Mumbai, India. She explained that they just did blind tastings, which is an interesting approach and something we will certainly consider trying at least once for a future meeting. Carissa also generously supplied us with a large bottle of Bunnahabhain "Darach Ur" which is how we began the evening's tasting. Here my specific taste memory fails me. Neurons gone. But I do recall that "it was good". Thank you Carissa!

Onwards we forged to the evening's main program, a comparison of the newly purchased Laphroaig 18 year old "vertically" to Laphroaig 10 and also "horizontally" to another Islay 18 year old, the Bowmore. And then, as a marvelous surprise, Al brought out the last of a Bowmore 25 year old that he had stashed at home.

In summary I can report that "they were good" and that if there was a general statement to be made, that particular evening the Bowmores found more favour with the group than the Laphroaigs, although of course Lahproaig is a marvelous tipple as well. Perhaps on another night the consensus would have been different. It was also interesting to note that the Laphroaig 18 year old had evolved so much in those additional eight years in the cask that on a blind tasting it would have been difficult to be confident that it was the same whisky, just older. The other observation that became obvious is that Islay may be a small island and a recognized whisky region in its own right, but its products are very diverse and the Bowmore and Laphroaig actually have little cross-over in dominant taste components. Apples and oranges. And lovely apples and oranges they are. But if we were to declare an overall favorite for the evening, it would have to be the Bowmore 25 year old. Sublime. Thank you Al. And now it is all gone...