Laphroaig Càirdeas 2021 Pedro Ximenez Casks

I'd been tracking this one for weeks, the way a predator tracks its prey, the way the hunter picks up on the scent of its quarry and runs it to ground. Oh yes, as soon as I picked up the trail, I was on it. It had been in the coming soon section for weeks. And then one day, it was there, the mighty Laphroaig Cairdeas 2021 PX Cask in all its beauty and glory. So maybe it wasn't hunter/hunted so much as lover seeking his beloved. Sometimes, to our chagrin, we men confuse these things. But still, the whisky was going to be mine, oh yes, it would be mine. There were six bottles at the FW&GS store two and a half miles away, and since my wife had an appointment that morning and needed the car, I ran, with a backpack on my back, double-strapped to carry the bottle home, from my front door to the door of the Wine & Spirits. I arrived forty-five minutes after they opened and went straight for the scotch section, and behold!...it wasn't on the shelves yet. I pulled out my phone to bring up the picture, searched out an employee, and flashed the photo of what it was I sought. She went to the register, printed out the serial number and disappeared into the stockroom. Would she find it, return with it, my precious, oh my precious? Or would I come up empty? Would I have come all this way for nothing? But then, there she was, coming out of the swinging door, the gorgeous green and white cylinder in her hand with the red banner reading "Cask Strength" around its circumference. It was there, and it was now mine. All mine! I suppose I don't have to tell you here that I adore Laphroaig, perhaps out of all proportion. Yes, I love Ardbeg, too. But there's something about Laphroaig. It's like we belong together, like we're sole soul mates (although I guess we're not sole soul mates because a lot of others consider Laphroaig a whiskey soul mate as well). I'm giving this the highest rating of any whisky I've ever tasted and reviewed on this site, and I might be biased, but it feels deserving of this honor. I've never rated anything a 5, and there's a reason for that. 5 is the ideal, 5 is the unattainable, 5 is the whisky that likely doesn't exist in reality, the whisky whose experience is next-door to orgasmic. Do you know what I'm saying? Wait, I'm on a site devoted to the experience of drinking whisky: of course you do! I opened this a few weeks ago. My plan was to crack it on Halloween with my dad and my brother-in-law while we watched the Eagles pummel the Detroit Lions (not a mean feat, I mean no disrespect by this to Detroit because I feel for you, but every team pretty much looks like a championship team playing the Lions these day). Of course, given the description of my seeking this out, I think you might be able to guess that I couldn't wait, so I cracked it by myself, two days earlier. I'd had a bit of what these days we're calling an anxiety attack that day, so I figured I deserved something nice. And I have notes on that first experience, a post-it note with scribbled text all over it: "Earthy & Sweet. Loamy. Yes, peat, but it's beyond peat, it's much much earthier, mulch almost comes to mind, but like, tasty mulch." And it's true, this has the sweetness of the PX Casks, and the sweetness is well-balanced, but it's also perhaps the most earthy whisky I've ever tasted. I don't really know how Islay pulls it off. I mean, you read descriptions like tar and iodine in certain Islay descriptions and you wonder, how could someone ever want to drink that, but if you're an Islay fan, you know exactly why you'd want to drink it: you're not actually drinking tar or iodine or, in this case, Band-Aids, which is in among the mix on this finely balanced whisky. Your drinking a really good, finely crafty scotch that evokes those flavors and turns them into a smorgasbord, a delightfully intermingled aesthetic experience. Additional notes: "Another aroma it evokes is hash, oddly enough. My friends sometimes got it and smoked it in high school and the mulch mingling with the sweetness, which is a rich port-like sweetness, even though PX is sherry, is evoking hash for me. And of course, tasting notes don't often include illegal drugs, so it's an odd thing to bring up here and when I write this online, I have to make sure to note I'm not admitting to any illegal use myself (don't want the po-po knocking at my front door), but being in the vicinity of someone who used it, I know the scent or remember the scent and I think it's not an inapt comparison...." There's also something of new leather in the nose. Not old beaten and worn leather like that jacket you've had in your closet, but new leather like you'd smell if you went into a store that specializes primarily in leather. This is my third cask strength Islay with the first being the phenomenal Ardbeg Uigeadail and the next being the Kilchoman Machir Bay 2020 CS, which was lovely, but this Laphroaig really pushes it to the next level. The color alone, as soon as you pour it, is enough to get any scotch fans' engine revving because it's dark deep red, almost the color of a red ale, and it's just a thing of beauty. Now perhaps I should have begun there, but my admiration has my mind just floating, reeling off one compliment after another like the first time you encounter a really truly beautiful woman, and you realize she likes you back and it's okay to reel off compliments, and you just can't stop telling her how beautiful she is, you know? And so, this is next door to the orgasmic whisky I dream of rating a 5. This is possibly the finest whisky I've ever had. This is...a dream. And you can quote me on that. If you can find this, and you like Islay, pick it up right away. This is beyond a treat. This is playing the game on another level. It's enough to make me forget that I got caught in a thunderstorm the last mile home after I picked it up and had to sprint the rest of the way. This scotch is a reason to sprint. (P.S., it has a good mouthfeel too).

Been way too long....I need to do inventory and start reviewing my backlog here. Anyway, lets just jump in. So - I swore off anymore NAS bullcrap peated whiskies after a string of complete trash was given to us. Last year's Cairdeas was horrible, ardbeg was on a streak of trash after trash after trash bottle....it was all doom and gloom, but I was told this was one to give a shot. OK guys...this wasn't free...it better be at least ok! Nose - The nose isn't helping here. It's alcohol FORWARD. Under that you get this beef and smoke pork and just meaty wood fire stove kinda thing with actually....fairly nice PX casks. No, not some top end amazing deals but this doesn't taste like the recent trend of burning the hell out of the oak to then get dark whisky. These casks come off pretty well...maybe PX casks haven't yet become part of this race to the lowest quality possible I'm seeing lately. Anyway, a mix of young and overly spirited and actually really nice. Think a really nice 10 year CS honestly. Taste - This is smoked meat, smoked oak, and then wonderfully sweet sherry (finally a young whisky that uses SWEET sherry and doesn't ruin it). The finish is smoke and peat. The medicinal notes are mixed in well with the PX creating a bit of a iodine meets some kinda weird fruit dessert with chocolate and a touch of burned rubber. Mouth - oh man, those px casks impart such a nice creamy upfront note which then turns to ash and burned char as the proper peated scotch takes over. I gotta say guys at 106 bucks, buy 2. It's great for that price point out if you like the notes I left you. Smoke, fire, oak, wood, more smoke, and lovely sweet sherry casks. But also somewhat young and certainly not without some flaws. Still it's a big bold bad whisky. 2.75 feels about right here. About as good or better than some recent springbank 12's but in that range. Quality whisky that does everything well but it's young and spirited. This isn't for most whisky drinkers but it's good and if you're a smoke head it'll be right up your ally. if you're just ok with peat, this is a good way to jump into laphoriag done well. At the us price of 106, honestly get it guys. It's good stuff. And it's priced a bit more than you'd like from cairdeas but this is legit one of the most bold and enjoyable in years. But if this is out of your budget, you can move on. It's not a splurge bottle either unless you really want to get into CS peat.

This is my 6th consecutive Laphroaig Cairdeas. If that isn’t an indicator that I quite enjoy these, then I’ll just say it. Laphroaig does a fantastic job with the cask experimentation, and they keep the price down year after year. They put this out roughly around the time that they debuted the 10 year Sherry Oak cask, which I believe uses Olorosso. It will be interesting to see what PX and an extra 10 and changed % ABV delivers. Nose: Brine, seaweed, sea salt, iodine, bandaid, and tennis ball. Heavy campfire/pipe smoke and rubbery peat and ash. Black currant and rich plum. Menthol and wintergreen. Dark chocolate and toffee. Mint. Freshly-based apple pie. Toasted almond and hazelnut. Smoked meats/brisket. Red hot tamale. Black bean, red pepper chili. Cinnamon, black pepper, and oak. Palate: Rich dark and mint chocolate, malt, and toffee. Plum, dried red fruit, blackberry, and black currant. The peat smoke, seaweed, sea salt, brine, and iodine remain strong here. Toasted almond and pistachio. Strawberry. Black bean, red pepper chili and more of the smoked meat and brisket. Cinnamon, black pepper, and oak. Finish: Brine, sea salt, seaweed, peat/campfire smoke, bandaid, iodine. Black currant and plum. Dark chocolate and toffee. Red hot tamale. Nuts, bacon, charred meat, chili, and all kinds of baking spice and oak. Unbelievable finish on all accounts. 6/6 on these Cairdeas releases. This happens to be the most plush profile of them all. The PX yields a dark fruit profile, even more so than the Port and Wine Cask release from the year prior. It’s an absolute monster at cask strength, and it hits all the right notes. A coastal peat beast with a healthy balance of rich dark fruit and confectionary sweet, nutty, and meaty notes. Devoid of citrus which I tend to get in most Islays. 5/5. I got around to this one late, so it ran me $100 instead of the usual $90. Well worth the price of admission. I hope they something with PX sherry again in the future after this stellar performance. I believe they do some PX single cask releases. I’ll have to get around to those. As for this, magnificent stuff.

Aroma - Neat: At 58.9% ABV, it is quite nippy on the nose, but the PX Sherry still jumps out. Sweet brown sugar, dark dried fruits such as prune, currant, date and raisin and a gentle touch of hardwood smoke (Think the gentleness of smoked salmon, for instance.) Water Added : This scotch stood up to nearly 3 teaspoons of water before the nip of the ethanol was tamed. After this and a good 10 minutes left to breath and open up, I am picking up a wide array of smells, here. My first and perhaps most interesting impression is that the sweetness and smokiness is coming together in this sort of sweet and savory way that is akin to something like, BBQ dry rub, sweet pulled pork or perhaps bacon jam. To break this down further, I can smell green apple, marmalade, black tea, gentle hardwood smoke, subtle wine tannins and syrupy Demerara, Brown and dark candi sugars, I dare say in a rum-cakey sort of way. Taste - Neat: Again, very hot at cask strength, undiluted. Only the most basic and prominent points are able to be tasted through the heat; smoke and a Demerara sugar type sweetness. Water Added: First and foremost, this is damned nice. Probably one of the most interesting and just straight up tasty scotches I’ve ever had. I’ve always been a big fan of sweet and savory and so I always searched around trying to find this bottle. It delivers exactly what I hoped it would; bittersweet dark chocolate, Black tea, brown sugar, dates, raisin and a prominent but not stark, smoke. (Some Islays can get to that medicinal degree of smoke, but this is sophisticated and gentle, like a smoked meat). Final Thoughts - Probably has made its way into my top 5 scotches of all time. The sweetness of the PX Sherry mixed with the Islay smokiness comes together in this delicious way that I can only describe as Barbecue. Take a super smokey, rendered, fatty slice of brisket and top it with some sort of dark, dried fruit chutney / sauce and you’ve got an idea of this scotch. Absolutely stellar. Going to be hard to resist drinking this all right away!

Next up in my Laphroaig series, is a sample of the 2021 Caidreas PX that was generously provided by @ctbeck11 The nose starts with a mix of fig jam on toasted sourdough, tangy barbecue sauce on charred pork belly and leather bound books then light diesel fumes, mild ocean brine, dark chocolate mocha and toasted hazelnuts followed by prunes, cherries jubilee and orange creme brûlée that transitions to light ginger and polished mahogany with medium ethanol burn. The taste is a medium to full mouthfeel starting with chocolate ganache, grilled figs and tangy barbecue sauce on charred pork belly before a mild spice that quickly fades to toasted sourdough, espresso, mild ocean brine and freshly lit pipe tobacco followed by prunes, cherries jubilee and orange sorbet that transitions to light baking spices, leather bound books and polished mahogany with medium ethanol burn. The finish is long, starting with chocolate ganache over creamy sweet berries that fades to the background of pipe tobacco, smoky barbecued meats, light ocean brine, asphalt, leather bound books and polished mahogany. This is a smoky chocolate treat that I could see some find the PX cask overpowering but for me it strikes a very enjoyable balance with those rich chocolate and dark berries counterbalancing the savory smoked meats and mild ocean brine. At a price of around $90, I think it’s very reasonably priced and I’ll be on the lookout to pick one of these up if I stumble on one. Ratings for the series so far: 10-year cask strength batch 11- 3.75 10-year sherry oak finish- 4.0 Lore- 4.0 2019 Caidreas Triple Wood- 3.75 2020 Caidreas Port and Wine - 3.75 2021 Caidreas PX - 4.0

This cask strength version of the duty free favorite comprises whisky aged for between five and seven years in ex-bourbon casks, followed by six months in quarter casks and then a final two years in European oak. I presume those final casks are PX-seasoned rather than commercial bodega castoffs, but I’m just guessing. Either way, the original travel retail bottling ranked as one of my favorite Laphroaigs when I bought a bottle several years ago, so a cask strength version should be a treat. It’s unexpectedly approachable at the higher strength, the most obvious difference of the amped-up ABV being an increased viscosity rather than any painful alcohol burn. The nose is a delightful mix of coffee, dark chocolate, smouldering fire wood, plum jam and Syrup of Figs. Unfortunately the palate is much tighter, a flatter version of the nose. If the nose was music played through great headphones with an expansive sound stage, the palate is the same song heard on your iPhone’s speaker. There’s a full-throated blast of Seville oranges and fig jam and the finish is a bitter dark chocolate, but I found it hard to pick out other flavors from my small sample. I suspect this needs a drop of water to perform at its best, so I’ll defer a rating pending another opportunity to taste. Not that anyone should care what I think - this year’s Cairdeas is sure to please fans and fly off the shelves.