Time for some interlude in the headbangers reviews series. I finally got my Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 liquid and I just had to taste it as soon as possible 🙂

It’s the Laphroaig 200th anniversary bottling, wholly produced in Laphroaig with 100% usage of malting floor barley and according to John Campbell, it should represent how old Laphroaig was used to taste.

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 (51.5%)

Nose: Sweet, malty and salty. Then the earthy sweet peat comes in along with citrus and honey. There’s smoky (not smoke) sweet cured meat, lots of brine  and vanilla and after a few minutes there’s some fragrant edge to it.

Palate: Peat and ash, seaweeds, salty berries, soursweet fruits, a touch of TCP, brine and citrus.

Finish: lingering sweet peat and brine, salty fruits, gentle and mellow with smoky note and salt

Thoughts: Now that’s a proper ‘lighter’ Laphroaig. I feel it’s doing a better job than last two years festival bottlings. Also, I cannot avoid comparing it to Ardbeg Perpetuum as both are the 200th anniversary bottlings and both try to deliver a lighter yet fruitier peated whisky. I know I have some bias toward Laphroaig but even taking it into account I have to say that the Laphroaig Cairdeas is much more interesting and complex with more layers of notes that playfully meshes one with each other: there’s peat, smoky meat, fruits, brine and malt and even though that the medicinal traits are almost no-show here, It’s a good whisky and a good Laphroaig.