Can We Be Friends, Laphroaig?

Laphroaig releases a Càirdeas every single year, yet this one somehow slipped past my radar when it released.

This particular expression is a Fèis Ìle release from 2018, so by the time I finally tried it, it had already been out for almost five years.

This means that it wasn't really available in my home market anymore and secondary prices can be unreasonable, so I never attempted to go through the effort of finding one.

Càirdeas means "Friendship" in Gaelic
Càirdeas means "Friendship" in Gaelic

...but since I was on vacation, and I had just finished a delicious peated dram prior to this, I decided to follow it up with the one that I should have tasted a long time ago.

After all, how could I be a whisky expert if hadn't tasted all of the annual Càirdeas releases?

Peat and sherry sounded like the perfect marriage for the occasion…especially a sherry like Fino that would simply complement the peat without attempting to compete with it.

Here's what I found...

8.75/10
DramIt Rating
Laphroaig Càirdeas Fino Cask Finish 2018
View on DramIt →
Tasting NotesLaphroaig Càirdeas Fino Cask Finish 2018
AgeNAS
ABV51.8%
Nose
Peanuts, Cashews, Cayenne, White Pepper, Brown Sugar, Porridge...

Really Quite Complex.
Palate
Caramel and Nougat immediately engulf the senses. Sufficiently Salty. Roasted peanut savor is significant without being overpowering, well integrated.

Like biting into a snickers!
Finish
Medium length

Cashew Butter, Apple Strudel and even some subtle Red Berries...

These are very complex developments given the flavors identified on the palate!
Reviewer Comments
Truly phenomenal.

As expected, the Fino Sherry complements this dram perfectly, but there is surprisingly little iodine and smoke, even for a Càirdeas expression which pushes the boundaries of what Laphoriag normally does. I actually thought that the peat would surface more since the cask previously held such a lighter/drier variety of sherry than the typical olorosso or Pedro Ximenex (PX) options. Nevertheless...This is pretty close to my idea of perfection.

Well done, Laphroaig.