Laphroaig 10yr old - Bad Batch?

[x_bones]

A friend of mine recently complained of nausea and stomach pains after drinking about 1/4 bottle of 40% ABV Laphroaig 10 year old.

I took an unopened new bottle round to his house to compare tastes and was surprised at the differences. His "suspect" bottle had a ghastly stale beer / old brewery type smell, both from the uncorked bottle and also from a poured glass.

I tried a sip which tasted really rough and also much stronger than 40% (similar to 90% Polish Spirit!!)

The bottle was bought from a major UK supermarket chain, so we ruled out the possibility of dirty chinese fakes, etc. Also, the seal was intact

Has anybody else had a similar experience?

[x_bones]

The supermarket replaced his suspect bottle with a good one, which we polished off without any adverse effects.