Having just bought (and fallen in love with) the new Port Charlotte SC, your description of this makes me think it'll be a new favorite Laphroig, FOMO is strong now!!
I really like this whiskey and enjoy your tasting notes, they match my experience of this whiskey pretty well. I tried it at an event before buying, I’m ok with the price.
Thanks for the shout out buddy! Agreed that it seems like normal ASB Laphroaig juice that's ALL been finished and then vatted. 100% finished - 0% full term maturation. Doesn't change that it is very good though! Works very well with the house style as you say. Cheers 🥃
I pick up the Cairdeas every year and having seen it on the shelf for $100usd, I almost skipped this one. But... Your review made me re-think what the hell I'm doing with my life and I went out and grudginly got it. Wow! The transition from smoked ginger and spicy oak to grilled limes is... 🤌 so satisfying. This thing is a freaking kaleidoscope of a whisky. Changes every time you dive back in. First it's sweet cream, pear and smoked butter. Wait a few minutes and it's green grapes, nectarines and savory peppered oak. Next sip she 180's and its all charred citrus and salted ash. And holy hell there's this lingering grapefruit on the palate that only shows up about ten minutes after a sip 🤯 WTF?! hahaha Dude! I am loving this one! Cheers!
Did you know that the last 2 digits of the ABV signifies the release year? Tasted it at a release event in Seattle and liked it. Sells for $100 in the US.
Porto branco (white port) is easily one of my favorite scotch casks, rare as it is. Loving the aggression over clarity, to be honest. Even Teeling cant pull their head out of their ass on what carcavelos is. Important when it could completely change what youre drinking. FOMO is real. Still trying to go through as many different distilleries to know what the perfect and imperfect substitutes are.
Here's Barry MacAffer confirming that this is natural color - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-znRb2SJMqY8.html Why don't you just say it on the damn label then !!!!
I like that you voiced your suspicions about this being chill filtered and also talked about the potential colouring. If Laphroaig don't want us to be suspicious about these things then there's a very easy solution for them 😉Cheers
3:19 - Thanks for the free points 🤣 - I'm so so sorry😅 - I was curious if the code would work, and I believe it did 😬. I own you land. Next time I buy an Laphroaigh I'll DM you the code. Promised.
Good one dude :) Laphroaig is notorious for colouring and chill filtration so I wouldn't think this is any different. With a dark green bottle I never understood the colour aspect 🤦♂ Both you and Shane are absolutely right about it when it comes to availability. At least with Laphroaig you can get the special releases even after a while. I think I'll give this one a shot at a bar and then make my mind up about it. Cheers dude!
More complexity would probably come from more time in the cask. Lord Activist, that's a hell of a rant! You're right about the Madeira maturation. It's a nice way to add a little something to Islay peat. The port just added a bit of word confusion. But par for the course. I added it to my collection without hesitation. I never got a chance to try the early simple, single sherry offerings. In my area of the US it's on the shelf for the same or less than the warehouse 1. Interesting eh??? And obviously so much less then their southcoast neighbors. My FOMO will go $100, no problem. It's just the way it is. BTW where the hell is batch 16? It seems like in the past, they didn't try to hard with Cairdeas. Just enough to make it special and with that laziness they can't bother finding an English speaking writer to do the labels. We'll see if they get back to simplicity next year.
I agree with your tasting notes and your advice. 70 euros, pounds or dollars is the most I would pay for a NAS. Shane is a fine reviewer and I respect his palette. Thanks and kind regards, SF.
Thanks for the review. I am with you on Laphroaig simply informing us about color and chill filtration. Acoording to this interview with the master distiller it is natural color. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-znRb2SJMqY8.html And, why don’t they put it on the label!
I am thoroughly enjoying the new Cairdeas! People are universally pointing out the discrepancy with the bottle and container. I just assume Laphroaig may have coloured and chill filtered their whiskies. What's new with that right? We should be used to it by now. Laphroaig doesn't care! Having said that I look forward to continuing my enjoyment as I go back and continue with the odd dram of this expression! It's beautifully complex and it's clearly Laphroaig! I'm going for an 8 despite a lack of viscosity. But as I say I expect Laphroaig to potentially colour and chill filter. I think it's criminal, so to speak (no distillery should be doing this) but I do love Laphroaig! Barry did a terrific job! Cheers.
Chill filtration can make some relatively low abv bottle looks normal specially when they are being sold at cold area as not all consumers will buy a bottle full of white mist as this was mentioned at some books written by keepers and other whisky industrial legends. Seasoned whisky lovers will prefer ncf and no added colour but it may not be the best option for all producers or all bottles to be fair. I'm not supporting the idea of adding colour and cf the products but it is vital if not a must for most producers for some but not all of their products for obvious reasons. Some experienced youtube whisky critics likes Ralfy over focus on ncf and no added colour sometimes with all due respect as he is one of the most respected youtube critics and I love his videos but he kinda demonize or just don't review some ok or even good bottles with colour or cf though the bottles may tastes better without cf in theory. If some distilleries will loss a significant / great % of sales by stopped adding colour /cf to all bottles thus influence their long term survival and revenue to produce more interesting limited testing bottles with or without cf /colour, is'n't it cf and colour for some but not all bottles are the best options for them given there's always a certain % of non educated consumers who prefer a crystal clear and deep colour bottles which contribute to the survive and development( more r and d or better product range with more total sales) of distilleries. Those who call out no cf /no added colour is kinda unreasonable as they are not looking at the big pic but just speaking from their own shoes. PS: I'm not working in whisky industry and I always prefer ncf and no added colour bottles.
Chill filtration can make some relatively low abv bottle looks normal specially when they are being sold at cold area as not all consumers will buy a bottle full of white mist as this was mentioned at some books written by keepers and other whisky industrial legends. Seasoned whisky lovers will prefer ncf and no added colour but it may not be the best option for all producers or all bottles to be fair. I'm not supporting the idea of adding colour and cf the products but it is vital if not a must for most producers for some but not all of their products for obvious reasons. Some experienced youtube whisky critics likes Ralfy over focus on ncf and no added colour sometimes with all due respect as he is one of the most respected youtube critics and I love his videos but he kinda demonize or just don't review some ok or even good bottles with colour or cf though the bottles may tastes better without cf in theory. If some distilleries will loss a significant / great % of sales by stopped adding colour /cf to all bottles thus influence their long term survival and revenue to produce more interesting limited testing bottles with or without cf /colour, is'n't it cf and colour for some but not all bottles are the best options for them given there's always a certain % of non educated consumers who prefer a crystal clear and deep colour bottles which contribute to the survive and development( more r and d or better product range with more total sales) of distilleries. Those who call out no cf /no added colour is kinda unreasonable as they are not looking at the big pic but just speaking from their own shoes. PS: I'm not working in whisky industry and I always prefer ncf and no added colour bottles.
