Tasting: All 3 entries in Laphroaig's Ian Hunter single malt scotch whisky series to date. Laphroaig whiskey singlemalt scotch
If there’s one constant among the elder statesmen scotch whisky distilleries, it’s that they tend to begin with a proud family history. So it was with Islay peat-masters Laphroaig, founded in 1815 by Donald and Alexander Johnston—the family would ultimately shepherd their distillery for almost 130 years before the line was finally broken.
The Ian Hunter series of single malt whiskies is told in a series of “Books,” and begin in 2019 with Book One. Book Two followed in 2020, and Book Three in mid-2021. Each entry in the series highlights different aspects of the classic Laphroaig flavor profile, although all share the peat-smoked malt that is the company’s most iconic calling card. They’re all extremely well-matured, 30-year-old or more bottles, with price points in the $1,000 range and beyond.
The first Ian Hunter release is subtitled “Unique Character,” and is a quite traditional expression of Laphroaig’s single malt that spent 30 years in ex-bourbon barrels. Notably, the distillery notes that these were specifically first-fill bourbon barrels, which to the uninitiated means that this was the first time they were being reused, which typically implies a greater degree of bourbon/oak influence. This release was bottled at 46.7% ABV after its unusually long maturation.