This month Charles MacLean celebrates the arrival of Laphroaig Triple Wood in World of Whiskies.
Unlike many other well known brands of malt whisky, Laphroaig only releases new expressions occasionally.Laphroaig proudly presents itself as “the world’s most richly flavoured Scotch whisky”. It is heavily peated (unusually, the distillery has its own maltings) - smoky, medicinal, seaweedy, even tarry, but with an unexpected sweetness to start with.
An ‘in your face’ malt; not long ago it was being advertised as ‘uncompromising’ – you either love or hate it, there’s no middle position! Apart from annual bottlings for the Islay Festival in May, and occasional specials for overseas markets, Laphroaig simply offers a range of ages from 10 years old to 40 years old, rather than coming up with a slew of wood or wine finishes, like some other distilleries.This makes their current offering of a ‘Triple Wood’ rather special.
Like all the Islay distilleries except the most recent one, Kilchoman, which opened three years ago, Laphroaig stands on the shore – in its case a rocky inlet on the south coast of the island – in order to permit the beach-landing by small cargo boats called ‘puffers’ of barley and coal, and the export of casks of whisky. The founder was Donald Johnston; the date 1815. It remained in his family until the 1950s. Donald’s great-grandson, Ian Hunter, who became manager of Laphroaig in 1908 and sole owner of the business twenty years later, was the man who really built the brand.
One of his first tasks on taking control was to change the distillery’s agents, Mackie & Co of Glasgow. Unusually, Laphroaig was being sold as a single malt even in those days. Peter Mackie (later Sir Peter), creator of White Horse, was furious; Mackie’s had, after all, established Laphroaig’s reputation in the whisky trade. Described as “one third genius, one third megalomaniac, one third eccentric”, he went to court (and lost), then attempted to block Laphroaig’s water supply (unsuccessfully) and then resolved to make his own ‘Laphroaig’ at Lagavulin Distillery, next door, which he owned...This is one of the most vainglorious stories in the history of Scotch – a history not lacking in strange stories! Even today, with the benefit of modern scientific knowledge, it is impossible to copy another’s whisky. You can imagine what it was like in 1908, when Peter Mackie installed a new distillery within Lagavulin called ‘Malt Mill’ to make the same whisky as his neighbour. He failed, but Malt Mill survived until 1962. Its make went into blends; I know of only three surviving bottles of ‘Malt Mill’, and some others which I suspect are fakes.
In the 1920s, Ian Hunter set about selling his whisky in the United States, possibly the first single malt whisky to be promoted there. Prohibition was still in place, but a loop-hole in the law allowed whisky to be sold ‘for medicinal purposes’, and Laphroaig’s medicinal character made it perfect for such. While he was abroad, the distillery was managed by his secretary, Bessie Williamson, and when he died in 1954 he bequeathed Laphroaig to her.
By this time the distillery was badly in need of repair. In order to raise the funds to do this, Bessie sold a third of her shares to an American distiller, the Schenley Corporation, and by 1970 Schenley had complete ownership. The days of privately owned distilleries were over – today only a handful are in private ownership. Like many other distilleries, Laphroaig became an item on a multi-national corporation’s balance-sheet: Long John International, Whitbread, Allied Lyons, Allied Domecq and since 2005, Fortune Brands, owners of Jim Beam Bourbon.
The new owners are very proud of the distillery’s heritage, however, and can be relied upon to consolidate Laphroaig’s position as a global brand. They have even appointed an Illeach as manager: John Campbell is Islay born and bred, and at thirty-seven is the island’s youngest distillery manager.
