Ardbeg 10 vs Laphroaig 10: The Purifier That Splits Islay
— Ardbeg 10 runs a purifier at 55 ppm phenols. Laphroaig 10 has neither, at 40. Here's why the bigger smoke drinks the lighter dram.
Whisky, told through
the people who made it.
LegacyDram reads whisky the way an engineer reads legacy code — by the decisions, trade-offs, and people behind the bottle. People-first biographies, craft chemistry, and tasting picks with reasoning.
Three columns
People
Distillers, blenders, owners, and the engineers behind the bottles. Decisions they shipped, trade-offs the bottle still carries.
Craft
Distillation chemistry, cask science, blending math, fermentation engineering. Whisky-making seen through the engineer's lens.
Tasting
Curated bottle picks paired with the human story and the technical detail. No marketing copy, no "best of" listicles.
Latest articles
Phenol PPM in Whisky: SWRI's Frances Jack on Malt vs Bottle
— Phenol ppm measures the malt, not the spirit. Frances Jack's SWRI HPLC method: Ardbeg 55 ppm malt lands at ~12 in the glass.
DMS in Whisky: Why Copper Kills It, and Who Kept the Meat
— DMS is whisky's meaty sulfur note. Copper turns it to odorless DMSO — unless worm tubs cut contact. Cowie kept it at Mortlach in 1897; Winchester on the modern trade.
Worm Tub Condenser Explained: 16 Distilleries and ~1/20th the Copper Contact
— Why 16 Scottish distilleries keep worm tubs despite ~1/20th the copper contact of shell-and-tube: DMS survival, the water-flow paradox, and Brora's 2021 rebuild from archive plans.
Jimmy Russell at Wild Turkey: The Entry Proof He Held to 2004
— Jimmy Russell joined Wild Turkey in 1954 and held its barrel entry proof at 107 for forty-four years. In 2004 it went to 110 anyway. What he actually got to decide.