by Dr. DOg

Am fear a ni obair na thràth Bidh e na leth-thàmh. Or as my editor  would say: He who does his work in time will always have leisure time  Speaking of leisure, the interesting thing about scotch whisky is  how much work goes into producing it, then how much time is spent  waiting for it to mature. Resting in the barrels is a term used to  describe how whisky matures as it sits in a warehouse, mixing with the  wood resins and previous materials that also aged in the casks. How  could two whiskies, located within hundreds of yards of one another,  end us so different?  A good question, and one that has never wholly been answered. 

Take  Laphroaig and Lagavulin, two of the giants of Islay, the small island  west of Glasgow, home of fishermen, farmers, distillers and, of  course, smugglers.  Laphroaig, owned by Allied Domecq PLC, is the quintessential Islay  malt: Oily, full bodied, heavily peated (smoked) and with a distinctly  iodine-like nose. This, as has been so often stated, is not a whisky  for the fainthearted. The strange thing is how many first time drinkers actually like Laphroaig. People who would normally drink  vodka take to Laphroaig like an olive to a martini. Established in  1815 (but not officially licensed until 1825 according to Graham Nown  in his book on whisky), Laphroaig was owned by the Johnston family  from its official inception until 1847, then taken over and operated  by members of the Johnston family from 1856-1954. Laphroaig also  boasts of having one of the foremost women in the history of whisky,  Miss Bessie Williamson (who was also known as Mrs. Wishart Campbell),  running the distillery from 1954 until the 1960's, when Laphroaig  acquired by a series of larger companies.  

Lagavulin's history, on the other hand, is a bit more  complicated. There were actually two Lagavulin Distilleries on the  site, according to Moss & Hume. The earliest was founded by yet  another Johnston (John), and ceased operation around 1833. The second  Lagavulin was founded in 1817 by Archibald Campbell. By 1837, only one  Lagavulin was in operation, owned by Donald Johnston.  When what was to become White Horse Distillers Ltd. took over  Lagavulin Distillery in 1867, the stage was set for a rivalry between  the two massive malts of Islay (with apologies to Ardbeg.) Lagavulin  became a part of the huge Distillers Company Ltd. in 1927, and is  currently owned by Diageo PLC. The 16 year old Lagavulin is more  complex, rounded and sweeter than Laphroaig, boasting a powerful smoky  flavor balanced with a burnt, toasty, almost spicy profile. The age  difference (16 versus 10 for Laphroaig) accounts for some of the  differences, but these two malts would never be mistaken for one  another. Yet there they sit, less than a mile apart, producing vastly  different whiskies. And no one still can explain why.