Williamson 2014-2021 - 6 Year Old - Berry Bros & Rudd - Single Cask 06004

An iconic southern Islay distillery, Laphroaig is the benchmark for heavily-peated smoky single malt whisky. The distillery has been Islay’s most successful single malt for many decades now, so much so that in 1908, following a commercial dispute, White Horse’s Peter Mackie famously tried to create a copy of Laphroaig at Lagavulin, leading to the birth of Malt Mill.

Today, the most revered and sought-after Laphroaigs at auction fall broadly into two camps: the old official bottlings of Laphroaig 10-year-old from the late 1960s-1980s; and the extraordinary independent bottlings of 1960s and early 1970s vintages by Gordon & MacPhail, Signatory, Cadenhead’s and the Italian bottlers Samaroli and Intertrade. The common denominator in these legendary bottlings is a remarkably fruity character alongside the phenolic bombast - sadly this fruitiness is no longer found in Laphroaig’s modern distillate.

Founded in 1698, Berry Bros. & Rudd is the UK’s oldest wine and spirit merchant, with their iconic premises in St. James’ Street in London an institution in the drinks trade. Berry Brothers were among the first English merchants to bottle bespoke whiskies for sale in the 19th century and in 1923 they launched the Cutty Sark blended whisky which went on to great success in the United States in the post-Prohibition era.

Berry Bros continued to bottle single malt whiskies after WWII, with notable examples from Longmorn, Macallan, Glen Grant and Laphroaig (among others) occasionally cropping up at auction today. Since the late 1990s the company has expanded its spirits operations, briefly owned the rights to the Glenrothes single malt brand after selling Cutty Sark in 2010, and now have an adventurous range of expertly-selected single malts, blended malt whisky and rums.