In life, we have to make choices

Some choices are hard, some are easy, and some are really hard. I would say having to choose the one bottle of whisky to bring home from an overseas trip falls in the medium hard category. On the one hand there was the Swedish whisky from Mackmyra. On the other was the new Laphroaig PX cask. Either one would have been a good choice, which is in my opinion a rare occasion these days in travel retail. I ended up going with the Laphroaig and it turned out to be a very good choice indeed.

Essentially the PX is the Triple Wood with the final maturation in a Pedro Ximenez cask. Bottle at 48% AVB, the color is influenced by the sherry wood, but not overly so. The color is a deep golden, with some copper notes. The nose has the unmistakable sea air and iodine one associates with Laphroaig, while also betraying some of the sweet notes from a sherry aged scotch. Without water, the dram is quite drinkable, though it is a smoldering fire going down the throat. The sweetness is almost too much, reminding me a bit of the Bowmore 15 year old.  But Bowmore doesn't come close to having this camp fire, seaweed and iodine. There is also some sweet biscuit in there, along with an incredibly long finish that lingers and lingers.

With water the fire mellows quite a bit and takes on almost a Glenmorangie-like syrupy-ness. It is almost like grape jelly. The fruit notes come forward more, reminding me of caramel bread pudding and toffee pudding. This is an unusual dram coming from Laphroaig and perhaps a die-hard fan will turn his nose up to it, but I say live a little and enjoy this one.  It doesn't always have to be full-on fire and brimstone! ( I just wish I had ignored my wife and bought both bottles!)