If you are a fan of Islay whiskies then you might know that this year is a big year. Laphroaig and Ardbeg are celebrating their 200th Anniversaries this year! That’s right, they’ve both been around since 1815.

In conjunction with Feis Ile, Laphroaig will be releasing a special Cairdeas release featuring 11-12 year old whisky made only from malt that was malted at Laphroaig.

The Cairdeas (Gaelic for friendship) bottlings are released every year for Feis Ile. To get first access to bottles you can either show up at the distillery during Feis Ile or sign up to the Friends of Laphroaig. Or if you live in the US, bottles tend to show up at specialty stores in the states a short while after the festival.

UPDATE!! 16/6/2015

Got another email last night from Laphroaig announcing that the Cairdeas 2015 will be sold by Ballot and registration has commenced. The link to register seems to be linked to your specific FoL account. For some reason AliceInWhiskyland did not get the email and could not use the link from my email to register. So if you haven’t gotten the email you may want to look into it.

Here’s a copy of the email:

“To celebrate our 200th Anniversary, we wanted to make a unique Cairdeas – one that embodies the history of Laphroaig, by creating an ‘older’ style of Laphroaig.

To do this, we have of course used our hand turned floor maltings, which have remained totally unchanged. However, we have also increased the intensity of the peat using the peating process which is unique to us (We ‘cold smoke’ which infuses variations of the peat flavours into the barley that no other maltings produce). The result is a spectacular and totally unique Laphroaig – a one off, which I believe you will really appreciate.

This Cairdeas will be sold by Ballot

Due to the overwhelming demand, we are selling Cairdeas 200th Edition to ‘The Friends of Laphroaig’ by ballot, as it is the fairest way for everybody. Anyone that wants the chance to buy a bottle can enter the ballot and we will then draw names at random to decide who will have the opportunity to buy.

You have until 18 June 2015 to register for a bottle. CLICK HERE and fill in your details.

If you are successful in your entry, you will be notified by date 25 June 2015 and you will have 3 days to complete your purchase. If any bottles remain unclaimed they will then be sold in your online shop on a first come first served basis.”

UPDATE! 23/5/2015

Got an email yesterday (23/5/2015) from Laphroaig. Looks like they will be running a vote for how the Friends of Laphroaig Cairdeas sale will go this year.

From the email:

“As you know, Feis Ile Festival is just around the corner and that means the release of Cairdeas. I have decided that the only fair way to manage the sale of the special 200th Anniversary Cairdeas for everyone is by a ballot. I will email you of the details shortly.

Thousands of you have asked what this Cairdeas will be like. Well I am not going to tell you yet, except to say that I personally laid it down myself a long time ago. And yes it is different!”

I guess they are learning from the debacle with the online sale for the Ardbeg Perpetuum Distillery Release. Clever girl. Still haven’t gotten the email with details for the vote but I will update when it comes in.

Pictures and info were procured from these blogs:

Whisky Gospel

Tasty Dram