Free Tastings of Rare Laphroaig Single Malt Scotch? Yes!
By Wayne Alan Brenner, October 11, 2019, 9:30am, On the Range
Okay, look: There’s scotch and then there’s scotch.
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“Well, sure,” you say. “There are those blends, which can be a wonderful thing when they’re done right. But then there are the single malts. Which, when they’re done right, are an even better thing. Arguably better, maybe but, well, fight me.”
And, no, you’re right, you’re absolutely right – no fisticuffs required and please put down that goddamn shillelagh.
(Because it’s an Irish thing, anyway, that shillelagh. And we’re talking about scotch here – whiskey from Scotland, aye?)
So there’s that, yes: the single malts.
But there’s single malt scotch and then there’s single malt scotch.
Laphroaig, for example.
Laphroaig, which no less an aficionado than the late, great Iain Banks rhapsodized in his rurally rambling, whiskey-fueled, automotively enhanced book Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram.
Laphroaig, which that same Banks also noted was the most unusual, the most palate-challenging and yet palate-rewarding, of all the World’s Greatest Single Malts.
And there have been lots of whiskey tastings going on around town, lately. It’s the season for it, after all, and so local distilleries like Treaty Oak and Still Austin and Garrison Brothers and others, they’re all busy spreading the good word (and the tasty samples) of their excellent liquid wares.
And some actual scotch, too – the Macallan, the Balvenie, Highland Park, and more – brought from across the pond by various handsome and often bearded brand ambassadors – that’s also been enlightening the collective oral sensorium of Austin, Texas, at posh tastings in the past several weeks.
Well, brace yourself: Here comes that Laphroaig.
On Monday, October 28, for just that one night, Laphroaig’s Master Scotsmen will present a series of free, exclusive tastings of some of Laphroaig’s rarest, most premium expressions at Austin’s own Small Victory.
Of course, attendance to an event this extraordinary is limited. So, if we were telling you about this after reservations had already started, then you and all the rest of us, well, we’d be properly S-O-L, wouldn’t we?
But the reservation process to be among those partaking of The Laphroaig Vault isn’t even open until ... Tuesday, Oct. 15.
That’s right. Maybe don’t keep your finger hovering over the relevant virtual button from this moment until the reservations go live ... but (like a true whiskey scout) be prepared, citizen!
Because you might just be among those experiencing, gratis, the unique complexities of Laphroaig’s best. And the ghost of Iain Banks will smile kindly (but enviously) upon you.
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