🥃 Whisky Auctioneer

At first, I was doubtful as to whether my taste was really okay today, but a verification dram of the 2025 Laphroaig Càirdeas Lore CS, which I have had open for about a month and a half now and which is now in its last third, immediately following this tasting, tells me that everything is fine. After John Campbell stepped down from his position as Distillery Manager in November 2021 after 15 years, and his successor, Barry MacAffer, threw in the towel after just two and a half years in April 2024, something has changed at Laphroaig. And not for the better. The online tastings are uninspiring and unimpressive; the newsletters and the whisky descriptions in the shop seem to be AI-generated, as soulless and artificial as they come across. The next batch of the distillery's absolute classic, Laphroaig 10 CS, has been a long time coming; the last batch, 017, was bottled in November 2023, and it's now summer 2025. After all, the current Càirdeas is fun and the two previous Elements were also very good. This Elements L 3.0, however, phew. The Laphroaig website says: "This limited-edition release is the third installment in our award-winning Elements series. It was created as a result of a fire in our kiln. This caused the peat to burn longer and at much higher temperatures than usual. Experiments with heat brought out notes of chocolate and coffee—the result is this exceptional whisky." This thing about random and strange occurrences during whisky production: has anyone actually taken it at face value in recent years, since Ardbeg has been including such things in the descriptions of its releases? A bit late to the game, Laphroaig, isn't it? Might as well save the trouble now. In any case, the Elements L 3.0 doesn't deliver what Laphroaig (or the AI) thinks it should deliver. Not bad, no question, Laphroaig DNA is present to some extent. But: on the nose, it comes across as almost timid, and the aromatic yield is quite meager. The entry on the palate is mild – and that can't necessarily be attributed to a relatively long aging period, because in my opinion, the finish would have required a significantly longer finish for that. And then later on, that peppery, spicy note – something just doesn't add up. 175 (one hundred and seventy-five) euros for that? Nice try.

It's a decent dram with a lot going on in the glass, but the price would put me off wanting to buy a bottle. Well worth trying and did manage to make me want more.

Quite okay, but falls short of L1 and L2. Some interesting roasted aromas on the finish. 71-80 – Fine, like to drink by time

Whisky Live Messe HH, therefore only a short review from memory

Great. Like menthol gum with iodine in the operating room.

A dram from a freshly opened bottle, hence difficult to already really judge this. Smokey, ashy, tarry and piney on the nose with a little citrus and some liquorice. Bitter coffee, cocoa and more liquorice notes are added on the palate with spices like clove, ground black pepper and general charred oak. The finish mainly consists of coffee roast, salted black liquorice, charred oak and ashes. Overall it's not very well balanced, but I do like the dark coffee/cocoa/liquorice combo.

I generally welcome experiments of this kind and am very open to them (apparently, the peat burned longer and hotter than usual due to an "accident"). I also really enjoyed the two previous bottles in the Elements series – so I was quite excited for the third version. For me, this one is definitely the least aromatically balanced and overall most disjointed Laphroaig I've ever tasted. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as experiments can sometimes backfire, and perhaps Laphroaig has learned from this. The only real drawback is the price. Purely based on the taste experience, I wouldn't pay more than €50 for this bottle. Ultimately, it's probably only for collectors who want to own the complete series...

88,00 Blind test

Milk chocolate, umami.

It has an oily viscosity and a highly intense bouquet. I have aromas of intense maritime peat smoke, vanilla, crème brulee, apples, butter biscuits, citrus fruits, and ash. Moderately complex. A good balance between sweetness and dryness in terms of flavor. The alcohol is fairly well integrated and has a heavy body.

05-10-2025

Peat, mixed with savory notes, blends harmoniously with sweetness. Its only drawback is its somewhat simple flavor. If you add an ice cube and drink it, the sweetness and pith are emphasized, and the density is added, which is a great advantage in terms of taste.

great, beautifully smoky

quite thin and "sophisticated", if I may say so. Not as rich as the standard releases and the same 10 CS. Lots of notes of grass and salt. Very spicy and sharp in taste. Well, I still prefer 10 CS

Compared to Elements L1.0 and 2.0, this is the best of the 3. Lately Laphroaig has been running hot and cold. I think this one is hot. I have a few "favorites" on islay and in Speyside and the Highlands. Laphroaig usually is quite good to very high on my list and this is no exception. It would be nice for the label to tell us more but so be it. What the label says doesn't influence me and I could care less who runs the distillery or even their location. I used to be a wine collector and it still goes with food and Scotch doesn't. But all that alcohol acts as a preservative and not enough in wine to preserve it. Of course wine will keep if it's frozen and then thawed for a few hours. But this particular Laphroaig fulfills my expectations. Peat doesn't overwhelm and distillate is excellent. Compared to a single cask 18 Laphroaig. Peat and distillate not integrated, but both excellent separately. Tasted against Elements L1.0 and L2.0. From actual tasting and memory, this is the best of the 3. The peat is laid back in the initial taste and comes out in the aftertaste. A positive. The distillate is soft and fruity. On a different aspect, is it worth the price? I think all Scotch is overpriced, but so is everything else. Many elements involved...discretionary income, inflation, supply and demand, etc. Macroeconomics. The stupid people who are our so-called leaders. Balance that against enjoyment!

Unfortunately, the lyres of recent releases are sweet and too monotonous, even when using different types of barrels. Everything merges into a single either sweet sherry or sweet bourbon profile. This release is generally a little better than the standard ones, more elegant, but the character of the distillery that existed about 15 years ago and which can still be found in bottlers has changed (and not for the better) and/or been lost. sweet syrupy malt with crushed sweetness iodized peat, lollipop and a bit of peach. not surprising. and, considering the price, this is not the whisky you want to buy

My first run with the Elements was very sobering. It sounds more like an Ondjaba to me. I'm glad to have a sample.

aroma: soft, smooth, smoke, iodine, dark fruit taste: mild, smoke, iodine, honey, marmalade I enjoy this, a beautiful smooth transition from smokiness to sweetness

Beautifully maritime and salty. A very long, salty finish. Perfect for us salt lovers.

Surprisingly flat and uninspiring—it offers mostly smoke (phenolic only in the finish), coal, and asphalt/bitumen with a malty sweetness and peppery notes on the palate. Well, okay. 85/100 or 5/10

Blind tasting

Incidents can still bring something good, personally this is not the case, with a very unbalanced and monotonous drink, that tells little and leaves even less. Not unpleasant, but considering the price, rather negligible.

A clearly structured, maritime Laphroaig. The smoke is more precise, accompanied by salt, sea air, and classic medicinal notes. On the palate, it's dry, clean, less heavy than L1, and less fruity than L2. It feels technically refined. Medium-long with a salty, smoky finish. Conclusion: For lovers of the classic, straightforward Islay style.

The aroma is very smoky, less phenolic and more campfire smoke than usual with Laphroaig. However, there's still a lovely sweet, citrusy, herbal note in the background. I diluted it slightly with water, which helped a lot as the smoke was less noticeable and it opened up. The taste is nice and sweet at the beginning with fruitiness (light ripe fruit) and vanilla in the foreground, then the smoke follows nicely. It has an oily consistency. The finish is medium long. Conclusion: It is actually a typical Laphroaig with a bit more smoke in the direction of campfire than the usual bottlings. It cannot quite keep up with bottlings No. 1 and 2 because it is less complex. However, the entire Elements series is significantly overpriced. Unfortunately, I don’t recommend buying it! For that money I'd rather buy two bottles of the 10 year old Cask Strength.

Tasted in 10/2025 The smoke is strongly reminiscent of Laga, which is very good, but it is neither a good Laga nor a good Laphi.

Not the "hospital" smoke you usually get with Laphroaig. More like a campfire. Surprisingly mild on first contact, then it really kicks in. Not bad, but completely disillusioning given the price.