Distiller: Laphroaig

Product: Cairdeas

Bottle: 2023 - White Port and Madeira

Category: Islay

Aged: Three quarters finished in second fillMadeira, one quarter finished in first fill white port

Nose: Green apples and peach cobbler over the distinctive Laphroaig peat smoke

Body: Harsh peat smoke is quickly tempered with candied oranges, honey, vanilla, and buttery dinner rolls.

Finish: Miles of lingering campfire smoke with a bit of salted caramel underneath.

Activation: Helps to marry the sweet fruits with the oily iodine peat, creating a single coherent flavor where once there were distinct layers. Recommended.

Notes: Laphroaig Cairdeas is one of the longest running special editions in the industry, although apparently this is the very first offering by new master distiller Barry MacAffer. Certainly more distinctive than last year’s unimaginative “Warehouse 1” release, this bottle grows on you with time. It doesn’t break much new ground - aging harsh peats in wine casks is a time honored tradition by this point - but it is remarkably well balanced, with none of the chemical or medicinal harshness that you might expect. Things might be looking up at Laphroaig.