Laphroaig Cairdeas 2019 Triple Wood Cask Strength
59.5% ABV - Islay, Scotland
Nose: Sweet candied or jammy fruits with a moderate layer of smoke on it. Some elements of fruitcake, raisin, and plum or currant are detected.
Taste: (Here is where the Cairdeas shines!) Deep red, ripe fruits on a leathery smoke. The peat smoke gets real with some vegetal characteristics. So packed with flavour and the alcohol in this natural cask strength release isn’t overpowering.
Finish: Long lasting smoke, fruits, spices, salinity, and black pepper.
This is one of my favourite Cairdeas releases! I have only tasted the previous four expressions, this one included, but it’s easily my favourite. Laphroaig Cairdeas (aka "friendship") is an annual release since 2008 that coincides with the Feis Ile (Islay Festival). Every year that this is released – in limited quantities – it drives a flock of peat heads, each vying for the chance to have a taste. If you are not lining up hours before the store opens in my local area, then you unfortunately have a slim chance of owning a bottle!
When the Cairdeas 2019 Triple Wood started to land in the hands of the Friends of Laphroaig, I was searching for reviews – specifically looking for comparisons between this Cask Strength version compared to the regular, core range release. I really do like ex-Sherried Laphroaigs, like the PX Wood… but that said, I am not a huge fan of the standard Triple Wood – it is still a great whisky, but not my favourite Laphroaig. Though, apparently if you bottle it Cask Strength, as they have with this Cairdeas bottling, then you have yourself a fan right here! The ex-Sherry character really takes off from the development of the taste and into the finish.
Though now I only wish that I would be able to find another bottle... this is one of the few whiskies I would pay over retail price for – although not so hard to say when it was only $99CAD, before taxes and without any secondary markup. Using a flavour-cost formula, I could easily calculate the price of this Laphroaig Cairdeas Triple Wood to be in the ~$140-170 range for me, and I’d be very content with my purchase. It’s my highest rating to date! Loads of fruits, spices, and, yes of course, a medical, saline, vegetal peat characteristic throughout the dram.
Tasting Notes (Official): Creamy flavours of vanilla and fruit, with a suggestion of sherry sweetness, perfectly complement Laphroaig’s signature peatiness.
Tasted 06, 20 April 2020. (Posted 29 April 2020.)
