Kilbride (Laphroaig) 30 Year Old, 1989-2019, The Whisky Find, Chen Uen's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Mizunara cask finish, 1410 bottles, 46.8% abv
This bottling was all the rage, albeit briefly, a few years ago when it came out.... Laphroaig and Mizunara! I seriously wonder how long the Mizu finish was... and how used... anyone know?
Nose: slightly chloraseptic, hint of peach cream milkshake?, medicinal towel, hint of metallic smoke.
Palate: medium body, initial palate has a slight pause and then sharp juice, light wood, peach rinds, mid palate shows some smokey sweetness which intensifies, with subsequent sips the fruit juices appear more along the lines of apple, guava, diluted honey, dried wood, ginseng candy, back palate has the peat although the smoke is not so obvious until into the finish.
Finish: medium to long, is more tingly than flavorful, can get some light vegetative peat on the retro olfact, getting some sweet green apple candy suckers or candy balls, honey with Chinese medicine.
A good pour, definitely subdued and not sure how the Mizunara influenced it... seemed like a fight between Islay and fruit... ending in a compromise. Tastes more than 47%. Might be conservative. Some Kyushu locals told me that Mizunara has little effect when used for a short period of time, that distillate needs to be fully matured for a long time (which I assume is over 25 years), to get that Mizunara influence. I wonder if that's true.
Image courtesy of Eric Yee.
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