Laphroaig Càirdeas 2021 Pedro Ximenez Casks

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.