After a week of mezcal reviews (here, here and here) and before that, a week of rum reviews (here, here and here), it’s time to get back to Scotland and whisky. And in particular we’ll head to Islay. This week will feature teenaged peated whiskies. First up is the youngest. It’s a 12 yo Laphroaig bottled by the Thompson brothers of Dornoch from a refill sherry cask. (As you doubtless know by now, “Williamson” is the name used these days for most independent releases of Laphroaig.) Let’s get right to it.

Williamson 12, 2010 (50%; Thompson Bros.; refill sherry cask; from a bottle split)

Nose: Sweet, carbolic peat with some lime zest and then quite a lot of salt crystals. More coastal with each sniff with shells and seaweed joining the salt. Some more fruit in there too after a minute: tart apple, lemon; the smoke gets sootier. Continues in this general vein, maybe getting a little sweeter. With a few drops of water it turns into ashy limoncello; the salt’s still here.

Palate: Comes in with less smoke at first then I’d expected but then it expands as I swallow. A good drinking strength; rich texture. Some pepper mixed in with time but otherwise it’s pretty consistent. No real obvious sign of the sherry. Gets inkier as it goes. With more time there’s a bit of charred pineapple, and just more char in general. Okay, let’s see what water does for it. Water pushes the char back a bit and also the fruit.

Finish: Long. The smoke gets more phenolic and more sooty and the salt keeps pace. The fruit doesn’t really follow through here. Not much change here with water as it’s all about the phenolic and then sooty smoke.

Comments: As with many refill casks, the effect has been more to round off the spirit—and the salt has probably been amplified as well. This is by no means a sherry bomb. Not a blunt instrument but also nothing so very interesting. Just a good, solid, young peated whisky.

Rating: 85 points.