Scotland, Isle of Islay. Distillery operational. Owner: Beam - Suntory

Few distilleries have inspired as much excitement among collectors as Laphroaig, and this with just a single expression of its single malt, the Laphroaig 10 Year Old. Nonetheless, since the end of WWII, it has released a large number of bottlings, each varying from one market to the next. Its heavily peated style has developed according to the barrels used for maturation (sherry/bourbon). Its ABV, varying from 40% to 60% for its cask strength bottlings, favours one characteristic of its profile over another. And yet, it is still the Laphroaig 10 Year Old and has been for 70 years and counting. This expression forms a collection of its own thanks to its numerous importers and labels, including Filippi Fausto to Bonfanti, Cinzano, R.H.Elsbach & Co and Carlton Import. Laphroaig is, however, also renowned for its outstanding vintages 1960, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980 and 1981 and versions aged 15 - 40 years. All in own, a world of its own.

A Laphroaig 10 year old distilled in 1999, matured in Château Lafite barrels and bottled by Murray McDavid, an independent bottler founded in 1996 by Mark Reynier, Simon Coughlin and Gordon Wright, the former director of Springbank. They specialized in ageing whiskies in unusual casks, particularly wine casks, adding the term “ACE-ing” to their labels, standing for “additional cask enhancement”. After being bought by the Rémy Cointreau group at the same time as the Bruichladdich distillery that had been reopened by Murray McDavid in 2000, it is now owned by the broker Aceo Ltd and continues to operate from the former Coleburn distillery in Speyside, whose warehouses it uses. A limited edition of 1,400 bottles.