Feis Ile 2012 - Better late than never...

Getting out of bed has never been one of my strong points in life, never mind 4.30 in the morning! But when it involves a drive to the Ferry Port at Kennacraig to catch a ferry to the wonderful Island of Islay i’m straight up. No messing about, I will never miss that ferry. Quick shower, bag stuffed with some essentials and I’m off. The sunny weather seems to have faded back to misty and miserable, but that won't dampen my spirits, Islay here we come. Quick pit stop for fuel & coffee at the M8 services and I’m on my way. I'm travelling alone as we have a family wedding in just over a week so everyone has bailed on me this year, (yes its my wedding, and yes also not sure how I was still allowed the time to travel). My thoughts turn to the dram of attack when we hit the island. Its now Tuesday and I’ve already missed three open days, Lagavulin, Bruichladdich & Caol Ila. There’s plenty of drams to be caught up on.

The sun gods were out when we reached Islay, beautiful blues skies. Out come the shorts and flip flops and with some catching up to do we headed straight over to Laphroaig Distillery for their open day. Laphroaig Cairdeas 'Origin' was released to celebrate 18 years of the Friends Of Laphroaig programme. It combines some of the original liquid used to first create Cairdeas along with newer Laphroaig spirit that has been fully matured in quarter casks. Laphroaig Cairdeas Origin / Feis Ile 2012 / 51.2% Nose: Great punch of peat & smoke, seaweed with a slight sweetness and undertones of citrus. Orange & apples. Palate: Quite smooth, pungent smoke flavours, slight ginger, apples and hints of vanilla. Finish: Smooth with a touch of salt, long and moorish. Result: I real enjoyed this whisky, and would certainly go back for more. (I did several times) Laphroaig really know how to entertain, live music, distillery tours and special tastings to name just a few of the whisky activities on offer. Best of all, and where a lot of people spent most of the day is the dram bar tucked at the back of the museum. Laphroaig's range of malts available to dram free of charge, all day. I took them up on their offer and knew just the place to sit and enjoy.