The Laphroaig 18 Year was initially released in 2009 to replace the old 15 year. The spirits business being ever-changing, the 15 year came back as a special release to celebrate the distillery’s 200th anniversary in 2015. We loved it. After only several years on the market, the 18 year was scuttled at the end of 2016 to make way for the reintroduction of the 15 year (again) as a yearly Friends-of-Laphroaig Cairdeas release. While it’s good to see Laphroaig still hanging on to age statements in the current marketplace, the further limiting of its aged stock means the aged offerings we do have available will be harder to find and, in all likelihood, more expensive. If you can find a bottle of the Laphroaig 18 Year, we heartily recommend you pick one up.
Glenfarclas 17 Year
Operating continually for over 180 years, Glenfarclas is one of the big players in Speyside, its six stills (3 wash, 3 spirit) are the largest in the region with a capacity of 3.5 million liters per year. Even more impressive is, in a time of proliferating No Age Statement malts, this distillery has an extremely wide range of age statement whiskies in constant production. While they have a few older bottlings like a 25, 30 and 40 year, they also have many younger offerings like 10, 12, 15, 17 and 21 year whiskies that are, relatively speaking, very affordable. This expression, like many Glenfarclas malts, is aged exclusively in ex-sherry casks.
Craigellachie 13 Year
Though the village of Craigellachie may be more famous as the home of The Macallan, as well as the confluence of the rivers Spey and Fiddich, it is also home to the Craigellachie Distillery. It has generally flown under the whisky radar due to the fact that its output has always gone into blends, specifically Dewar’s (the distillery is owned by Bicardi but managed directly by Dewar & Sons). Thankfully, a few single malt expressions have been put out as part of Dewar’s Last Great Malts series, which focuses on new expressions and malts never released before. Aside from being uncompromising in taste, the distillery is also known for the use of the unique worm tubs, a call back to an earlier time in whisky production.