But before we get into the details and the review, I have a point to address. If you go searching online for information about this particular Laphroaig, 90% of the regurgitated press releases listed in Google have stated an incorrect bottling strength in their articles. This cask strength whisky was not bottled at 51.4% as you'll read on most of those sites. I actually fell for this myself when this bottling was first officially announced and social media quickly became flooded with dozens of slightly-altered versions of the same short article, and thought that strength was unexpectedly - and disappointingly - low for what is a relatively young whisky. But all is not lost, because they got it wrong: the actual strength of this little beauty is a substantial 59.5% ABV. Which puts it among the highest strength official bottlings of Laphroaig in recent history! If memory serves it's only been beaten by the US bottling of the 10-year old Cask Strength Batch 008 (reviewed here), which hit 59.9%. So there's definitely nothing to be concerned about here when it comes to bottling strength, and this promises to be a rather intense whisky!
Now, onto the juicy bits. Like 2017's release from the home of some of Islay's peatiest whiskies, this year's Cairdeas (Gaelic for "Friendship") bottling, which is released annually to coincide with the Islay festival a.k.a. Feis Ile, is a cask strength version of a core range / regular expression of Laphroaig. Some may find this a little less thrilling than an exotic cask finishing like the majority of recent Cairdeas', but for Laphroaig fans - myself included - the opportunity to try an old favourite at it's natural cask strength is extremely exciting. It also means that both pricing and availability are kept at reasonable levels, which is no bad thing for those who can't spend a week on Islay in June each year because they just happen to reside on the other side of the planet. The 2017 Cairdeas was a cask strength version of Laphroaig's Quarter Cask, at 57.2% ABV rather than the usual 48%, with 32,000 bottles released. This year's bottling is a cask strength version of Triple Wood, which is also normally bottled at 48%, and shares most of it's maturation method with the aforementioned Quarter Cask expression. Both are a vatting of 5-11 year old first-fill ex-bourbon casks, and are then finished for around 7-months in re-coopered 125-litre quarter casks which are also first-fill ex-bourbon. That's where the journey ends for the Quarter Cask expression, but as you can probably guess by the name, Triple Wood takes a third step before it can hit the road: a second cask finishing, or triple maturation if you prefer, in ex-Oloroso sherry European oak butts (500-litre casks) for around two years. Both of these core bottlings are non-chill filtered and reportedly naturally coloured, as is the delicious travel-exclusive PX Cask expression which swaps out the Oloroso casks in the Triple Wood for sweet Pedro Ximinez sherry casks.
This cask strength version of Triple Wood follows exactly the same cask recipe as the standard release, right up to the bottling stage, including the lack of chill filtration & artificial colouring. 36,000 bottles have been released at a price of 63 Euros, or approximately $104 AUD at today's rate. But due to our unfortunate geography Australians are then looking at another $73 AUD in shipping on a single bottle order. You could of course buy two bottles to spread the shipping cost a little further, but you'll then be up for $108 in shipping. And of course either way you'll most likely be hit with our ridiculous duty, tax and GST charges from Australian Customs, because how dare you bring spirits into this country you peasant, plus the extra charges from the usual freight company just because they can. By my calculations those charges would come to around $83 on a single bottle order (around $63 to customs and $20 to the courier), which makes this a $250 bottle once landed in Australia. All of which of course has nothing to do with Laphroaig or the people that made this whisky, but doesn't make for a cheap proposition. Especially considering that the regular version of Triple Wood retails for around $120 AUD on our shelves. But like the annual bottlings of Cask Strength 10-year old these Cairdeas bottlings are not officially imported to Australia by the national distributor, and they haven't been since at least 2015, so importing it yourself is essentially the only option. It's very tough for a Laphroaig fan to say no to something like this and then watch the bottling slip through your fingers, thanks to the fear of missing out and all that. For you peat-heads not in Australia that are not lumped with our truly horrible duty & excise rates, particularly for those in the United States which are usually - maybe even unfairly - treated to obscenely low pricing on high strength Laphroaigs, I hope you realise how lucky you are!
But that's enough aimless whingeing / yelling at clouds for this post. We have a cask strength Laphroaig to review! I was lucky enough to get a sample of this tasty number from Dan Woolley, Beam Suntory's National Whisky Ambassador for Australia, who recently just happened to get married among the casks in the famous No. 1 Warehouse at Laphroaig, a few days prior to working at the distillery during Feis Ile week. As you do!?! Congratulations to Dan & his lovely wife Billie, and many thanks for the sample. Let's get to it!
Laphroaig Cairdeas 2019, Triple Wood Cask Strength. NAS, 59.5%. Islay, Scotland.
Vatting of 5-11 year old ex-bourbon casks, finished in 125-litre ex-bourbon quarter casks for approx. 7 months, then finished in 500-litre ex-Oloroso sherry casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 36,000 bottles.
Colour: Dark amber.
Nose: Rich, sweet like a dark toffee, and lightly salty. Toffee almonds, drying seaweed, baking spices and a nice dry minerality, like wave-washed volcanic rock. Warm brown sugar, maybe even treacle, and a little orange peel with a light, dry vegetal peat in the background. Extra breathing time brings out more orange and some sugary vanilla paste.
Texture: Medium-heavy weight, rich & syrupy. Warming but not harsh or hot, even at nearly 60%.
Taste: Dried fruits macerating in syrup, and there's lots of orange peel now. Some dry, ashy smoke, more drying seaweed, and some more dry spices - cinnamon and clove in particular, and a bit of aniseed behind. That treacle note is there, as is some dark chocolate.
Finish: Medium-long length. Warming with those spices, and that orange peel is even more evident here, in fact it's more of an orange zest now. There's more dark chocolate, but it's fruit & nut chocolate here with a few raisins & almonds mixed in. That dry mineral saltiness returns, with more aniseed and a puff of that dry vegetal peat.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: A very rich & condensed whisky this, no question. There's plenty of flavour, but there's not a huge amount of Laphroaig's peaty or medicinal DNA showing itself. Very little, in fact. There is loads of orange and chocolate though, particularly on the palate and finish, and it's very drinkable for the (substantial) strength. It is recognisable as Triple Wood, but with almost everything dialled up to 10, particularly in the texture and richness departments. But I did say "almost everything", because the peat and smoke have been subdued and kept in the background. Which only goes to show the power of those sherry casks!
So despite being "only" a cask strength version of a regular expression, once again Laphroaig have brought a different whisky to the table for this year's Cairdeas. Which is entirely the point after all, and as we could've safely expected it's a very tasty one. Definitely one that fans of the distillery, and of richly flavoured whisky in general, will want to get their hands on. Despite the difficulty and expense required to do so in many parts of the world. Given the choice between this and 2017's cask strength Quarter Cask, personally I would probably go for the latter, but then I tend to prefer the regular Quarter Cask to the regular Triple Wood anyway, so that's not really a surprise and should be taken with a grain of salt.
As a bit of a footnote, some may want to know how it compares to the regular 48% ABV version of Triple Wood. Well, at least I did! Given the substantial difference in strength you'd expect the standard version to be relatively mild in comparison, and it definitely is. In fact when poured immediately after it's big brother it's actually very light and almost watery, which is not something that I'd normally say about almost any Laphroaig, and demonstrates just how rich and flavoursome this new Cairdeas release is. Now if they'd just hurry up and release this year's 10-year old Cask Strength, I could finally place my order...
Cheers!
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