A NEW ERA OF EXPERIMENTATION HAS BEGUN – THE ELEMENTS SERIES IS HERE TO CELEBRATE ALL THINGS IMAGINATIVE AND BOUNDARY-PUSHING IN WHISKY MAKING.
Our distillery team let their imaginations run wild with experimentation and creativity in making Elements. We’re excited to take you along on our journey to explore the different elements that make our whisky unique as we take our signature profile into new territories.
The first release is Elements 1.0, a unique single malt that went through a 55-hour fermentation process overseen by Distillery Manager Barry MacAffer.
“IN THE PAST WE HAVE FINISHED WITH DIFFERENT CASKS, WE HAVE USED DIFFERENT MATURATION STYLES, HOWEVER WITH THIS ONE WHAT MAKES IT REALLY UNIQUE IS IT’S ALL ABOUT WHAT WE CAN CHANGE AND WHAT WE CAN ADAPT AND WHAT WE CAN MODIFY AT THE DISTILLERY ITSELF.” - BARRY
117.2 Proof / 58.6% ABV
The Proccess
There are a few factors that set Elements 1.0 apart from the crowd and make it different to other unique releases.
Typically, we use two 5.5 tonne mash tuns at Laphroaig to give us 11 tonnes of wort to go into the washback. For this expression, the team looked back to the pre-1990s when it was common practice to use a singular 8.5 tonne mash tun, and used it in addition to the two 5.5s for a whisky that's the result of old meeting new.
The wort we pull from the tuns through to the washbacks is usually semi-cloudy, which is what gives Laphroaig its combination of fruity and smoky flavours. For Elements 1.0, we’ve also pulled through cloudy wort, which gives us bigger and heavier flavours, emphasising the phenolic notes. Cloudy wort can be quite bold and a little overpowering, but this 50/50 mix of cloudy and semi-cloudy has balanced out perfectly.
The story of this exciting release doesn’t just stop once the liquid is made. The packaging and design of Elements 1.0 is inspired by sketches of designs for our distillery expansion in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
There’s something new to study for the keen-eyed each time you look, as we’ve incorporated some nuggets of information about the process of creating Elements on the label of the bottle and the box itself.
