Laphroaig 15yo 2026
New Core Release | 46% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Welcome back, what took you so long?
True Love Never Dies.
Laphroaig. A legendary name. Founded in 1815, it’s one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland still operating and going strong in 2026. It’s one of the distilleries that helped build and make Islay what it is today: the Whisky Isle.
There are stories, factoids and legends a plenty when it comes to Laphroaig. The preferred scotch of His Royal Highness King Charles. A distillery producing such good whisky, it drove its most famous competitor, Lagavulin’s Peter Mackie, to build an exact replica of it within his own distillery.
Laphroaig was also the second distillery ever to be run by a woman in the midst of the previous century – Bessie Williamson. Another legendary name in whisky. So much so that when indie bottlers are forbidden from using the name Laphroaig, they tend to work around it by simply naming those releases after her: Williamson. And everyone will know what it means.
But, more relevant to this review: it was my own first true whisky love. Many, many moons ago, Laphroaig 10 was my whisky epiphany; my lightbulb moment; my ‘Oh my Goodness’ moment. It was, 25 years or so ago, arguably the best thing I ever tasted in a glass and, for roughly the following decade, I would swear by it.
Occasionally I ‘d be looking to mix things up with either their Quarter Cask or Three Wood or Ardbeg 10, Caol Ila 12 or Lagavulin 16. But by and large, Laphroaig 10 year old was my drink of choice and there would always be a bottle of it in my cabinet.
As things go with first loves: it’s rare that they last a lifetime. So it was the case with Laphroaig 10. Over the years we both changed. My palate evolved, my horizon broadened – not in the least because WhiskyTube happened and 40% ABV, coloured single malt gradually lost its charm. At the same time I felt the quality and presentation of what once was my be-all-end-all of whisky falter. Drop, even.
From an absolute powerhouse it stumbled and fell and the last bottle I owned, around 2018 if memory serves me right, quite frankly was a bit disappointing. The flavour was still there – it had all the peat and smoke and medicinal notes, but it seriously lacked in terms of depth and complexity and as far as texture goes it was an absolute disaster.
It wasn’t a sad farewell, as quickly others took its place to fulfill my need for peat. The aforementioned Ardbeg, Port Charlotte 10, and some heavy hitting peaty beasts from outside of Islay the likes of Longrow, BenRomach Heavily Peated and Kilkerran Peat-in-Progress more than made up for what I’d lost.
So the saying ‘Don’t be sad because it’s over, smile because it happened’ was very much applicable.
Review
Laphroaig 15yo, 2026 new release, official bottling, core range, 46% ABV
£79 retail & wide availability
Weirdly, when I waved goodbye to Laphroaig 10, I didn’t really seek out other Laphroaig expressions to replace it. Not because of one, clear, particular reason, but more because of various and varying different little ones.
The Quarter Cask too had become a bit one dimensional (to me at least, others may beg to differ), the Three Wood was dropped by the distillery. At the same time, their Lore was (and remains) a powerhouse, but it became too expensive, while their 10 cask strength was often very difficult to get hold of in my neck of the woods.
As for their older age statements, as with their Cairdeas; Feis Ile or other special releases: they were often priced well beyond what I was comfortable paying for. As an example their previous 15 year old was hovering just north or south of £100, and at a miserly 43% ABV too. The same applied to the better presented, yet even harder to get hold off 16 year old, and for the 18 year old we were even looking at prices hovering dangerously close to the £200 mark. Thanks, but no.
As these things go with first loves: they tend to be gone, but not forgotten, and often somewhere a small ember will continue to smoulder, needing only a bit of spark to come back blazing. In this case the spark came in the form and shape of last year’s (not so) Global Travel Retail exclusive 12 year old. Which, and try and make sense of this if you will, was priced about the same as the core range 10 year old. With two extra years of maturation, at higher ABV, and without fiddling about with artificial colouring or chill filtration.
2026 then saw Laphroaig (or, probably more likely: owners Beam Suntory) taking it one step further even by bringing back the 15 year old. With a bonus additional 3% ABV, without chill filtering or colouring, and, not insignificant, at a price that seems to be well in check with the times. Premiumization for the sake of premiumization will probably never go away entirely, but at least some hard economic sense seems to have made its way into the minds of those deciding on what whisky should retail for.
You can of course still charge us £120 or even more for a 14, 15 or 16 year old single malt whisky, but chances are that in those cases, what it will be doing best anno 2026, is gathering dust on store shelves.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, this very whisky was brought up during a vPub, and when a few days later I saw that a store near me had stocked up on this, it was a no brainer to go out and pick one up.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Welcome back, what took you so long?
Nose
Oily – almost industrial even. Mineral and coastal - lots of salt and iodine and TCP notes – but also rich and warming. Dark honey and demerara sugar particularly, adding a very pleasant sweetness. Only then does the smoke and peat kick in. A rather flawless nose that carries depth, and is both warming and sweet without forgetting all the typical Laffie notes of iodine, windswept beaches and bonfires.
Palate
Immediately warm, earthy and smoky, but all very much ‘in check’. The smoke is much more present and upfront, which means the coastal and sweeter notes have to settle for a place in the back seat. Not that I'm complaining, mind. The body is medium full, not super viscous, but not exactly dry either before things dive into a long, warming, peaty – earthy finish.
The Dregs
There is much to be excited about here, if only for the fact that this ticks a lot of the enthusiast’s boxes. Which, when talking Laphroaig, wasn’t always the case if I’m honest.
Of course, the 10 yo cask strength remains a reliable and worthy Islay monster. But apart from that there was little to get me excited in recent times. This, after years of either affordable yet mediocre releases such as the 10 and frankly also their Quarter Cask, and what on Earth was the Four Oak about? And don’t get me started on their volatile Select). Then we had the aforementioned overpriced premium stuff, but now Laphroaig has gone full circle and I’m very happy to embrace this for the beauty that it is.
This bottle was opened a week ago and I’m tearing through this in no time. I’m on the fence whether this is an 8/10 or a 7/10 but as such that’s not really relevant as far as I’m concerned. What matters is that this whisky is here, available and affordable to all of us.
Did it blow my socks off in a way reminiscent of what that Laphroaig 10 did all those years ago? To be honest: it didn’t. But then again few things will. And that’s not at all fair on this whisky as I need to bear in mind how that experience has been elevated and very likely exaggerated by over two decades of nostalgia. And of course this little nostalgia trip will mean absolutely nothing to anyone other than me.
The bottom line, and what I want you to take away from this is: what we have here is very, very good whisky. At a fair price. And that’s really all there is to it.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. EA
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At the point of this article’s publication, Laphroaig currently sits in position #12 in the Dramface Top 40.
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