Laphroaig Càirdeas 2019 Triple Wood Cask Strength

Had side by side with the standard Triple Wood which I enjoyed very much, and this is even better. It's heavier, thicker and syrupy, sweeter and everything is amplified. I get more peat in this than the standard TW as well. Basically, the only thing that the standard TW has more of than Cairdeas is wood. I find the wood notes to be muted here, which is fine. Essentially - this is a less-woody TW with everything else turned up to 11.

So today Erik Wait posted a youtube video (check it out btw) on this whisky and he got into his scoring methods, and it got me think a bit about what I"m looking for and why these young peated whiskies can and do get such high scores and why, I'm honestly rarely blown away. So I thought I'd put out what I'm looking for and where this whisky comes up, something I tend to not spend a lot of time on with my notes here, but maybe worth looking at. 1) Distinct intrinsic quality. What I mean is that all else equal we generally know what is and isn't a quality/expensive note. Young whisky vs old whisky can both be good and bad, but when we say we taste a young whisky, we or at least I mean I'm getting notes of new make which are flaws imo. Conversely, enough oak to the point of bittering could be a nice complement to a finishing or sweet malt, but can very quickly turn to a huge flaw as well. Both "flaws" could be discussed as flaws where as intense and extreme smoke is often a sign of youth that is favorable much like rich oak or complex transitions and depth can be good notes on older whisky. 2) The way the whisky smells, and here I think many reviewers don't value this much, it's really about the flavor to them. For me not at all true, it's 60:40 once I start looking at 3.5+ star review scores. 3) I need depth, complexity, transitions, and nuance. It has to do a lot either in a simple note (a sherry bomb might not transition but that flavor can be incredibly complex in that one thing) or in how the whisky flavor changes before we get to the finish. 4) Finish can save a whisky or leave it completely underwhelming. 5) It has to in at least 2 of these areas really move me to get past a 3.5 So onto this one. Nose - sweet, a touch of plum pudding (I guess I kinda get the sherry cask here), oak is present, and the classic laphroiag malt where I get some citrus notes and some good vanilla as well here. Taste - I get some medicinal, some earthy notes, a lot of vanilla (I keep thinking this is a better 10 CS, but i guess I like the sherry/quarter cask with bourbon). Finish - it's medium, but there's not much here. It's medicinal, oak, and well a standard laphroaig finish. So why is this getting so much excitement? Well, it's big, bold, and there's a lot of shall we say unblended or not melded together flavors. This however does lend itself to having a fairly decent amount of complexity. There is a youthful note at the end as well, not so much unrefined but it wasn't ready for the show. But I don't think a lot of islay fans find this off or to be a flaw and if you expect that perhaps it isn't. Similarly, the finish is longer than the average dram thanks to the CS, but nothing is really happening...you just get to savor what is a very nice pleasant note. It's full body and mouth coating as heck which I love and I'm sure others are loving too. So for me this is a 3.5 though closer to a 3.25 than a 4.0. 2.0 being average, 3.0 very really very good, and 4 being outstanding...after that you're into the best of the best. Ultimately, the whisky is complex but not greatly so, the finish is long but not special, and the nose while very enjoyable doesn't make me want to keep coming back. For under 100 bucks this is a good value and in and of that perhaps some will score it higher.

This will come to you as overpowering if your new to Islay, not for beginning whiskey drinkers obviously. I wish the smell came off more distinctly, but the taste makes up for it. An explosion of flavors once you swallow your first sip, trying to find out the flavors that come at you but its comes at you so fast, its like you're Lucy at the Candy factory trying to keep up. A glass of this demands your complete attention and in the end you're rewarded with a white ash finish.

Neat in Glencairn at home. Nose is strong iodine, seashore, cigar ash, hints of apples and apricot. Taste is similar, with a lingering medicinal note offset by briny seaweed. And then the heat comes. This is a "hey, taste this" whisky, not a sipper. 4/2/2020