Williamson

Williamson is not a working distillery. It is the name widely used by independent bottlers for whisky from Laphroaig on Islay that has been teaspooned, meaning a tiny amount of another malt is added to the cask so it can no longer be sold as a single malt under the distillery's name. Legally it is a blended malt, but in the glass it is essentially Laphroaig.

The name honours Bessie Williamson, who managed and later owned Laphroaig in the mid twentieth century, one of the few women to run a Scotch distillery at the time.

Expect the Laphroaig style: heavily peated, medicinal and coastal, with smoke, iodine and seaweed, softened or sweetened depending on the cask. Many bottlings are single casks, often at cask strength, and they are frequently cheaper than official Laphroaig of a similar age.

You will find Williamson from several bottlers, including Berry Bros. & Rudd (among them The Auld And The Bold and BB&R Friends releases), Master of Malt, The Single Cask, Cooper's Choice and Chapter 7. Bottlings carry vintages and cask numbers, such as the 11 Year Old 2013 casks in the Coasts & Shores series, so each release can differ noticeably.