How about some festival whisky? The Feis Ile festival plays out on Islay every year around the middle of May and each distillery has their own “day”. They also do a handful of special releases in honor of the festival. Laphroaig does a Cairdeas (pronounced “car-chess”) bottle that’s available at the festival and then slowly released to the whisky market about a month later. This bottle was from the 2011 Feis Ile and is called the Ileach Edition (which is Gaelic for “native of Islay”). There were about 6,000 bottles filled and prices on the secondary market are now going for more than $200 (they were originally $60). The whisky used is 8 year old stock that was fully matured in ex-Makers Mark casks and was bottled at or near a cask strength of 50.5% ABV. That’s it. Clean and simple. It’s a pale, straw yellow in color, oily and makes lots of undefined legs and medium sized drops in your tasting glass. The nose is one of the most floral Laphroaig‘s I think I’ve ever smelled, the smoke is sort of restrained and there’s a creamy, vanilla note mingling with a sharp, minty aspect. The palate releases the charcoal smoke and a highly assertive minerality with hints of burnt oak. The youthful spirit is “in your face”, but it’s still creamy and smooth. The overall mouth coat is on the weaker side, but the finish is medium length and steadily drying with more of the mineral notes lingering on. At its core, this is a Laphroaig-lover’s Laphroaig, if that makes sense. There’s no frills here. I guess it’s aptly named for the Islay natives- they just love their simply peated, earthy whisky and that’s all that this one is. I can appreciate it for what it is, I just wish I could’ve gotten this bottle for its initial sale price because the $225 I paid at auction is way too high. I’m glad I got to taste a piece of Laphroaig history, though, so it’s all good. 4 stars. Cheers.