Laphroaig Càirdeas 2018 Fino Cask Finish

The Cairdeas line is quickly becoming one of my favorite lines in all of whiskey. The 2017 Quarter Cask Cask Strength is one of my all-time favorites, and I'm quite liking this 2018 Fino Cask. Let's just jump right in. Nose: Seaweed, sea salt, ash, and peat smoke jump out of the glass. Campfire smoke. Iodine, band-aid, and ash. Tennis ball. Vanilla, honey, and butterscotch sweet notes. Almond and hazelnut. A bit of lemon, apricot, and pear. Caramel, brown sugar, nougat, and milk chocolate. Soft pretzel. It's primarily briny and salty, but there is also some secondary smokiness and sweetness. Palate: More sea salt and brine, campfire smoke, ash, and iodine. Now with some smoked brisket. Toffee, malt, vanilla, sugar cookie, honey, and butterscotch. Dark chocolate cake. The Fino cask starts to come through here. Some plum, red grape, cranberry, golden raisin, and poundcake. There's also lemon and orange citrus, as well as pear, apple, and apricot. Big ashy notes at the tail end of the palate. Like waking up the morning after a campfire in the woods. Superb. Finish: Salt, cinnamon, black pepper. Classic black bean, red pepper chili note. Nice and spicy as a high-proof Scotch should be. More of the orchard and citrus fruit. Vanilla and caramel sweetness. Long, phenomenal finish. Awesome stuff. The nose is a bit reserved for a Laphroaig, but is quality nonetheless. The palate and finish are as brash and compelling as any Islay malt I've had. Top mark for this one. Edit: I grabbed a second bottle of this and find the nose to be significantly more compelling. If you force me to choose, I'd give the nod to the 2017 Quarter Cask Cask Strength. But my preference is marginal. The fact is that this is a spectacular whisky. 5 stars. Stay tuned for my review of the 2016 Marsala Cask release. Well done, Laphroaig.

info: cette édition annuelle de Laphroaig du Feis Ile nommé Cairdeas, amitié en Gaélique, nous offre cette fois-ci un produit maturé en ex-fut de bourbon de premier remplissage pendant 8 ans à 10 ans et est finis en fut de Sherry Fino (d'où le nom) . Cette expression, très prisé par les amateurs de tourbe, est embouteillé à une intensité de 51,8% soit le taux brute de fût donc non dilué. Couleur naturelle et non filtré à froid évidemment. Pour ceux qui ne savent pas, le fut de Fino est le plus léger des Sherry. Les résidus de sucre ne sont que de 5 gramme par litre. L’'expression Fino provient "refined" puisque le fut a contenu un vin de post-traitement (brandy). On s'attend donc à une expression boisé et fruité. Nez: Tourbe iodé typique de Laphroaig. Steak que l'on fait cuire à haut feu. Un miel et un sel. Bouche: Tourbe forte de type médicinal typique de la distillerie. Des noix, du miel, de la vanille, du sel du caramel. Quelque chose de très bourbon dans celui-là. C'est chaud et pas gentil du tout. "Ça arrache la yeule" comme dirait l'autre. Il y a quelque chose de boisé. Du bois de feu de camp. Final: Sèche, boisé, tourbe médicinale, sucré-salé. Overall: C'est pure. Intense. Frais. Jeune mais expressif. Je ne suis pas contre les NAS en générale tant que l'on peut avoir suffisamment d'info quelque part. Ceci étant dit, j'apprécie son côté boisé et légèrement sucré. Bouche sensible s'abstenir. Belle complexité comme d'habitude. Je n'ose pas le comparer au Cairdeas de 2017, qui m'a semblé plus sucré et plus accessible. Les "vrais" fan de Laphroaig seront comblé de ce Cairdeas punchy. Les non-initiés ne seront pas plus initié. Pour ma part, c'est le genre de bouteille qui peut me causé un "craving". Quand j'ai le goût d'un coup de point de tourbe, celui du Cairdeas saura combler ce craving. 93%

I’ve had this bottle for almost 2 years, and a pending move has finally forced me to finish it off. Nose reminds me of a soapy car wash next to a windy ocean beach…there’s indiscernible fruits mixed with salt, kelp and a smidge of dust. It’s not underwhelming, but neither is it phenomenal. It does do a pretty good job of leading into the palate. And boy, that palate; it’s all that is good about Laphroaig without feeling like you had to lick an ashtray and get punched in the throat. But don’t let the softer side fool you. There’s still plenty of brine, soot, rubber, iodine and smoke to discover, except now it’s perfectly balanced by white grapes, figs, dark cherries and marzipan. Finish is medium long, and briefly recaps each flavor before closing with a wonderful rush of sweet salt spray. This is exactly what I want in an enhanced Laphroaig, and it loses to the PX cask only by the smallest bit of depth and richness. Well worth grabbing if you can find a bottle for under $125.

Since i really really loved the Laphroaig Cairdeas 2017 cask strength, i bought that one and it came with this 2018 cairdeas Fino cask expression, which is a very good dram, but inferior to the 2017 one. Fino is a type of sherry but a white wine sherry (¿?) Which tends to be more tropical just as white wine. Bottled at 51.8% amber color. On the nose: Bonfire, Lemon, Burnt hay, Grapefruit, Citric and peat. Pure peat. Gun powder; Toffee very dim; Sea food. Shells. Oysters. On the palate, Grapefruit, Ashes, Mint and Oysters. It has an Earthy - beachy profile. Aftertaste is medium long, with a mixture of spices: Smoke, Sulphur, Salt, Pepper and Wasabi. Overall this is a very enjoyable dram, you dont feel the 51.8%abv anywhere, but it seems like it lacks "that certain something" to step up and become not just a good whisky, but a great one. 89/100.

The fino sherry cask finish is gilding the lily on the classic Laphroiag profile, which is ironic because it does add some floral and herbal qualities. Basically my take is that it's subtraction by addition, adding notes that clash with what's good in the original character. N: Salt spray, ash, pipe smoke, but also a floral sweetness. P: Mineral, creosote, bitter and sharp notes like you'd find in amaro or gin: anise, rhubarb, peppercorns. Slightly tannic and tart cherries. F: pretty standard Laphroiag, coating smoke, charred meat, salt. It's interesting, it just pulls in two wildly different directions and distracts from what I like in the 10 year.

First off, I’m a big peat head. Although this is a tasty dram to sip on, I prefer the 2017 Cairdeas over this one for more body to the sip, and it doesn’t necessary hold a candle to the basic Laphroaig 10 which I would take any day over this for nearly half the price. That being said, it has a very briny nose which is nice, and the sweetness of the scotch overall is not something I would turn away. I would tell you that I get a seaside mist and barbecued meats out of it, but that wouldn’t surprise you from a Laphroaig and it’s all subjective anyway. As far as Laphroaigs are concerned, buy yourself two 10s or a Lore instead. Much more worth your $.