A Silvano Samaroli signed bottle of Laphroaig

A bottle of Laphroaig 1967 Samaroli 15-Year-Old Sherry Wood that was signed by Silvano Samaroli himself, sold at auction for a whopping £61,000. Over the years, meetings between various Islay distilleries and the legendary bottler have led to an amazing collection of the world’s best whiskies, however none have been as highly regarded as this Laphroaig 1967 sherry wood. Whisky connoisseurs around the world lean towards this being the best whisky ever committed to bottle.

The website WhiskyBase.com has the Laphroaig 1967 was listed in joint first place in The Top 1000 Whiskies of All Time. The other first place bottle was another classic from Samaroli’s collection, the Bowmore 1966 Bouquet, which has now slightly edged ahead of the Laphroaig. In 2016 open bottles of both whiskies were available at Singapore’s Auld Alliance bar which attracted visitors from all over the world.

Renowned whisky connoisseur Serge Valentin from WhiskyFun.com had a dram of the Laphroaig in 2007, which received a staggering score of 98. His comments are below: “Nose: even more of everything plus a fantabulously chocolaty and smoky sherry. I’m sorry, the rest will be censored by the anti-maltoporn brigade. Mouth: my god. Finish: my god. Comments: this is why we’re into whisky. We’re approaching perfection here.”

The Laphroaig 1967 Samaroli is the perfect representation of two huge players in the whisky world at the peak of their performance. The 1960’s was the golden era for whisky production in the Islay region and also a time when Laphroaig used 100% of its own famous maltings. These days only 20% of their requirements are provided by their own maltings with the rest coming from Port Ellen. The distilling of the whisky from Laphroaig distillery combined with the mind, eye and palate of Samaroli to choose the perfect cask, has led to a wonderful collection of legendary whiskies.