Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

Ahhh, yes.  Laphroaig.

Laphroaig was and always will be my first true love in scotch.  It was a warm summer day... okay, I won't go there.  But Laphroaig's 10 Year offering was the first scotch I truly fell in love with, and it remains among my favorites and among the best values in scotch.

Naturally, I consider myself a friend of Laphroaig, and naturally, I have to get my hands on Laphroaig's yearly Cairdeas offering.

"Cairdeas" means friend in Gaelic, and each year, Laphroaig's master distillers craft the annual Cairdeas malt.  Typically, they put a spin of some sort on it.

In 2015, it was Laphroaig's 200th anniversary, so the goal for the Cairdeas offering was to craft a dram much like it might have been made 200 years ago.


Tasting Notes

Nose: Ahh there is that beautiful characteristic Laphroaig nose, with swirling rays of smoke, peat, seaweed and brine.  There is a beautiful pepperiness and notes of ash.  Fruit is represented by apricot and a shade of pineapple.  While all the traditional Laphroaig notes are there, I find the unique spin I'm hoping for lacking.

Palate: Good, creamy mouth feel.  The peaty smoke is definitely present and strong but is softened somewhat compared to what the nose would suggest.  Iodine and seaweed make themselves known along with a mile of ash.  More peppers.  There is a faint caramel/toffee sweetness, much less than with Laphroaig's main lines.

Finish: The finish is long and ashy and leaves you wanting more.


Review

This is a good scotch by a great distillery.  It is a good offering in a great yearly release.

Those two sentences, if you read closely, should tell you everything you need to know.

I liked this scotch.  I liked it a lot, and I had trouble shying away from it in favor of others bottles once I'd opened it.  The problem, however, was that I didn't love it, and it's priced like something that should be love.  It's named like something that should be loved, as a high profile yearly release.

I found myself unable to avoid comparing it to the Laphroaig 10 offering.  While most of the Cairdeas line takes a particular spin on the Laphroaig profile, Cairdeas 2015 was right up the Laphroaig center.  There was little to differentiate it from the main Laphroaig line, and I couldn't come up with much of a reason to pay the extra 30-40 dollars for Cairdeas.

Very good.  Very enjoyable.  Absolutely worth buying for a Laphroaig diehard like me.  Absolutely worth storing away a bottle or two for a couple of years.

But if you're a casual Islay drinker or just want to explore some of the peatier malts, then I'd skip this one and start with the Laphroaig 10.


Scotch Dreams Score: 89

*Scotch Dreams Value Adjustment: -2

*The Scotch Dreams Value Adjustment attempts to account for the price/quality balance in some of the world's cheaper or overpriced drams.  Cheap scotch that is good enough to earn a decent rating will typically see a positive adjustment, while overpriced scotch that is mediocre will see a negative adjustment.  Adjustments are on a scale of -5 to +5 and may be added directly to the Scotch Dreams Score - which addresses ONLY the dram's quality - to achieve a price weighted scoring.  Check the Scotch Dreams Scoring System page if you're interested in learning more.