Penny for Your Thoughts - Ardbeg Perpetuum, Laphroaig Cairdeas 2017, Johnnie Walker Double Black
And on the third day of hurricane, my true love said to me . . . let's keep drinking scotch. These are our last few reviews from this crazy week. Thankfully our home made it out relatively unscathed from the storm!
Ardbeg Perpetuum Distillery Release (49.2% ABV) - This limited release from 2015 is supposedly a mix of "very old" and "very young" whiskies. I traded for a sample of the distillery release, which as the name suggests was available only at Ardbeg and in more limited quantities than the other version of Perpetuum (which also was a few points less alcoholic). After trying it, I like it but don't love it -- it feels like a slightly smokier and much more expensive Ardbeg 10. The nose is dominated by smoke and wood, so it almost smells like the inside of a longstick matchbox and spent embers from a fire. The only other note I detect is pepper. The palate is also peppery and smoky, although it has more sweetness, hay, and citrus than the nose. The finish is peppery and smoky, with a mouthful of oats at the end. B+
Laphroaig Cairdeas 2017 (57.2%) - The fans have been waiting for this one for a while: a cask strength version of the distillery's much loved Quarter Cask. Recently Laphroaig's Cairdeas expressions have indicated the year through the last two digits of their ABV (2016's was bottled at 51.6%) but obviously that couldn't continue if they bottled this one at cask strength. I found the nose to be a little too intense at times, with a heaping of smoke that actually obscured the butter vanilla oak notes I find in Quarter Cask. There's also a vegetal edge to the peat, green tea, some acidity, and heat from the proof. The taste is more like Quarter Cask, with buttery sweet dinner rolls combined with sharp, acrid smoke, and that tea and peat combination again. This Cairdeas finishes with sweet medicinal wood and smoke, and a botanical melange that is reminiscent of gin. It's a good buy at a fair price of $80, but I think the Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength is a much better buy. I'm grateful for that, since that's the expression that I can find all year around, year in and year out. A-
Johnnie Walker Double Black (40%) - This is an eminently drinkable scotch, but not one that I'd sit around contemplating at length. As expected, there's some smokiness in all three phases, although less than advertised (at least to me). The palate has fulsome honey and malt flavors, but it doesn't bring to mind particularly distinct notes beyond that. Like Black, it's a solid value at $30-35. Both the nose and the finish have a waft of new-make spirit, although it's been aged enough and is bottled at a low enough ABV that there's no burn. In the Walker lineup, Double Black or Black are my favorites so far, although I'm most excited to try Green Label. If you dropped me in a liquor store and I had to spend my own money, I'd go with this bottle over Blue Label at $200. B-