Port Ellen 27 y.o. Cask #6101 (Douglas Laing Provenance)

46% abv

Score:  90.5/100

Incredible foresight or the ultimate in luck?  Either way, Douglas Laing’s early procurement of so many barrels of Port Ellen is unprecedented in the industry.  It’s rather widely accepted that Port Ellen, in it’s day, was generally referred to as a blender’s whisky, and not particularly coveted as a single malt.  It seems logical that casks of the young spirit would have been set at a very appealing price point for any independent bottler looking to fill warehouses with peated whisky, be it for blending, trading or bottling.  Years later, when the whisky world caught on to the niche collectability of whiskies from closed distilleries, Douglas Laing found themselves sitting on an absolute gold mine.

Thankfully, over the years many of those DL releases have found their way to Canada.  In fact, the vast majority of Port Ellen I’ve tasted has been courtesy of the Laing empire (in one of its varied incarnations).  The profiles of the Laing releases can differ by substantial degrees, but the quality is fairly consistent across most of them.  I’d go so far as to say that Douglas Laing’s Port Ellen portfolio is, generally speaking, second only to Diageo’s annual releases.

Enough generalities, though.  Moving on to this particular one…

Though initially skeptical of the low abv here (c’mon, guys…you don’t do this with old, delicate whiskies!), it only took a moment to be bowled over by this 27 year old.  It was made in 1983, the distillery’s last year of production, and was bottled in mid 2010.  Those 27 years were spent maturing in a refill butt, but don’t be fooled; in lieu of any sort of big sherry notes on this one, it seems to be built more on very soft fruits and only the faintest whiff of spices.  Exactly what I imagine when I think of Port Ellen, albeit a little more gentle courtesy of the lower abv (which isn’t that low, to be fair).

Nose:  Very Port Ellen right off the bat.  Soft biscuity notes.  Old book.  Clean grist.  Faint seabreeze.  Mild citrus and wet rock.  Very faded peat and smoke.  A whiff of Werther’s Originals.  A little bit of honeydew melon and caramel.

Palate:  More alive here.  More fruits.  Oh wow.  Now we’re deeply entrenched in Port Ellen territory.  Smoke and beachside bonfire.  Lemon juice over charred scallops.  Sugar cookies.  Burnt lemon rind.  The smoke grows over time.  Something slightly herbaceous.

Thoughts:  Still a special whisky, but lacks a little oomph that would have pushed it even higher.  Can you imagine at cask strength?  A very restrained and elegant Port Ellen that suits my palate perfectly.  Love this one.

 – Reviewed by:  Curt

 – Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 25 y.o. Cask #4176 (Douglas Laing OMC)

54.7% abv

Score:  92/100

I tried this one for the first time about a week and a half ago.  Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to sit down with it twice more.  In the first two instances I was in the company of good friends (and many other fine malts).  In the last instance I was alone while taking notes.  This more dedicated time only served to reinforce what initial impressions told me: this is a spectacular example of Port Ellen.  Probably one of my all time favorites, to be honest.

This expression, a 25 year old, bottled by the Laing Brothers in 2008 (long before the company division), is almost like a time machine for me; immediately bringing back memories of the oceanic breezes, chimney smoke, farm life and maritime trappings of life on Islay.  If you’ve ever awakened to the early morning breezes on the island you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.  If you haven’t, I’m not sure why you’re reading here and not searching Expedia for airfare deals.

There are a few Port Ellen expressions I’ve tried that not only hint at the sensory experience of being on Islay, but actually serve to mimic it.  Whiskies that so encapsulate the smells of the island’s villages they seem almost transportive in their abilities to transcend distance.  This is one.  They’re few and far between, but when found the impact is immensely powerful and evocative.  Elegant and sophisticated.  One for the ages.

This cask was selected by, and bottled for, Kensington Wine Market here in Calgary back in 2008.  Unfortunately that means it’s now but a memory.  Great cask selection, guys.  This one is a showstopper.

Nose:  Sweet, soft fruit notes.  A touch of lime and maybe honeydew.  Subtle peat and a very elegant smokiness.  Vanilla and cream.  Seaside breezes and wet shores.  A great gristiness here, like freshly milled barley.  Biscuits.  Salty dough or pie shells.  Faint dry leather.

Palate:  Oh, man, what an arrival.  So much harmony and complexity, and so much sweeter than expected.  Salt and pepper.  Licorice.  Peat and smoke, as we’d expect.  A touch of honey.  A squeeze of citrus.  Like chewing soft grains of barley.  Still creamy, bit with a nice lime counterpoint.  Some apple.

Thoughts:  An almost perfect realization of Port Ellen.  Exceptionally harmonious.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 14th Release

56.5% abv

Score:  93/100

Port Ellen.  The magic, the allure, the mystique.  You’ve heard it all before, so I’ll refrain from the poetics.  Suffice it to say that this is a very special whisky, and I’m pretty tickled just to be able to try it, irrespective of what sort of score we ultimately weigh in with.  This is the 14th official release from Diageo and the oldest Port Ellen I’ve tried so far.  Distilled in ’78 – five years before the closure of the distillery – and bottled in 2014.  A 35 year old dram that still boasts an impressive 56.5% abv.  I think even the angel’s relinquished their share on this one in order to leave more for the rest of us.  How else explain such an impressive bottling strength at this age?  Perhaps they, like many of us, were simply priced out of the running.  As you can imagine, a whisky like this does not come cheap.

But taking price out of the equation for a moment or two (as much as possible, anyway), I have to admit that this is still a knockout dram.  It’s not the best I’ve tried from Port Ellen, but it’s a stunner for sure.  Elegant and exceptionally composed.  Big and bruising, to be sure, but a gentle giant in many ways.  I’m particularly warm to the softer, creamier side to this and the way it plays against the earthy back-to-nature smokiness.  Sort of akin to the smell of fresh baking in an old home where a fire is crackling away on the hearth, and letting off the occasional drift of comfortable smoke.  Beautiful interplay.

This is a hell of a malt, but it will run you about a bajillion dollars if you want to own one yourself.

Nose:  Again…an incredibly soft Port Ellen.  Pear notes, with a slightly melon-ish background.
A touch of sweet cherry.  Dusty and mature, yet very, very vibrant.  Slight farmy, peaty note.  Earthy and organic.  Leather.  Reminds of forest trail hiking.  Seabreeze and salt water.  Fruit flan.  Both grapefruit and lemon.  The smoke builds over time.  Black and green ju-jubes.  Vanilla.  Lemon polish.  Pepper.  Some rubber and a touch of liquid smoke; works out to be an almost industrial aroma.  Far more creamy and custardy than I had presupposed.  Kinda doughy.  Nice oak spine.  Another classic PE nose.

Palate:  Oh, wow.  Great thick, oily delivery.  Sort of reminds me of old Lagavulin on the palate.  Ginger and spice.  Licorice.  Actually, a lot of licorice.  Smoke and peat, as we’d expect.  Citrus rind and pith again.  Our favorite Lapsang Souchong tea.  Tangy fruit notes (but which ones?!).  Overcooked sugar cookies.  Dark, fresh vanilla and strong oak.  Notes of the raw, smoked malt.  Spiced dough…raw.  Slightly tannic.  A long finish of granny smith apple.  Again…absolutely typical.  About on par with the 13th release in terms of quality (hard to pick a favorite), but definitely a different profile.

Thoughts:  A great Port Ellen.  Not the best I’ve tried, but definitely a ‘form’ (if you’re up on your Plato, that is).  While we all understand the laws of supply and demand, Diageo has moved beyond the ridiculous and into the ludicrous with this pricing scheme.  Insanity.  Give or take $4,000 a bottle.  Oy vey!

*( Originally tasted on the back of a very small sample brought to me by my whisky angel, Val Bradshaw.  Subsequently retasted in Jan, 2016.  Notes expanded.)

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 24 y.o. Cask #2466 (A.D. Rattray)

60.6% abv

Score:  91/100

Opening a new bottle of Port Ellen is becoming more and more a cause for occasion as the days go by.  The shelves are barren of releases from this shuttered Islay distillery, and what is out there – if you do manage to find it – is priced beyond the common man (which I most certainly consider myself).  To put it simply…Port Ellen is nearly as rare as hen’s teeth nowadays.

For this very reason, it was a treat to crack a bottle of this 24 year old malt for a group of mates a couple nights back as we sat around and pretty much behaved as you’d expect a bunch of pretentious 30-somethings to behave (even though we brought along a 40-something and a 50-something, just for their worldly ways and charm).  A great quote which I’ve long since lost the attribution for went something like this: “don’t collect the whisky; collect the memories you can make with the whisky”.  And so we did.  Hey…you can’t take it with you, right?

There’s an interesting tale behind this release.  Cask #2466 was a split cask for A.D. Rattray, in which 188 bottles were released in 2007 as a 24 year old at 60.6%, and the remaining 199 bottles were released in 2008 as a 25 year old at 60.4%.  Not an occurrence we see often, and one, I can only imagine, that would drive some completist collectors absolutely batty in trying to track down both halves to this whole.  Fortunately, that’s not me.  I just drink the stuff.

If it helps, though…I believe the 25 year old portion of this malt was released only on European shores, while the 24 year old was a bottling that landed here in Alberta and was an exclusive for Liquor Barn and Liquor Depot.  The latter is what we have in hand, have now tried a couple of times and will speak to here.  I believe it is now gone, but incredibly was still on the shelves up until just a couple of weeks back.

Before we dive into my notes on this one, I just wanted to mention that the only other tasting notes I saw for this release (again…the 24 year one) were passed on to me by a mate, and referred to it as similar to an Octomore.  Until I popped the cork on this one I was a little skeptical about comparing a 24 year old PE with a fiery young Bruichladdich, but the comparison is surpringly apt.

This isn’t a whisky with a lot of complexity, but what it lacks there it more than makes up for in personality.  A rather fascinating mix of young and old profiles from this cask that was filled in 1982, just one year before the distillery finally closed its doors for good.

Nose:  Enormous.  The biggest Port Ellen I’ve ever encountered.  Peat and smoke.  ‘Burning barnyard’ farmy notes.  Iodine.  Seabreeze.  Vanilla ice cream.  Pepper.  Tar and chocolate.  Lime zest and green Jolly Ranchers.  Herbal.  White chocolate dipped honeydew melon.  Gets better and better the longer you nose it.  Surprisingly starts to get a little creamier as it relaxes.  Apparently this came from a sherry cask.  Ummm…ok.  If you say so.

Palate:  Hell yeah!  Huge and hot.  Peaty and oily.  The cereals are everywhere.  Minerally and slightly tart.  Leaves and branches (not that I’ve ever eaten them, but it’s like the palate’s equivalent of that olfactory experience).  Slightly medicinal.  Ash and charcoal.  Much less fruit than I’d expect for 24 years on, but maybe some hard fruit candies.  Especially the green ones.

Thoughts:  Like an oily Caol Ila slamming head-on into a farmy Octomore.  Wow.  Just wow.  And more importantly…how the hell did this one manage to come out at such an astronomical, blinding abv after 24 years?!

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 1983 (OMC) Cask #2116

50% abv

Score:  86.5/100

Last review of 2013 was a Port Ellen.  Only fitting that the first of 2014 is…a Port Ellen.

Far less valleys and mountain tops with this PE than many of the others out there.  This is a rather unremarkable specimen from Islay’s infamously closed distillery.  Having said that…being an unremarkable Port Ellen is still sorta like being the least popular Beatle.  Everyone still wants a piece of you and you ARE still legendary and timeless.

I’m often a sucker for malts in their very late teens or early twenties.  It seems to be a bit a personal sweet spot for me.  But I think most of the very best Port Ellen releases I’ve tried so far have all been a little bit older than that.  The Diageo releases, of course, but also the OMC ones that fall in the 26 or 27 year range.  Awesome stuff, that.  But hey…beggars can’t be choosers, right?  So let’s dig in to a 22 year old from the teeming warehouses of Douglas Laing.

The Laing brothers (prior to their recent split) and family, in a measure of incredible foresight and prudence, or simply fortuitous purchasing of what was possibly considered an inferior malt at the time, managed to lay aside vast stocks of Port Ellen casks after the distillery’s closure in ’83.  This particular expression is from the last days of distillation in 1983.  It was a rather generous refill butt that yielded a healthy 660 bottles at 50% abv.  Shame it wasn’t at natural cask strength, but we’ll happily take 50%.

Nose:  Faint peat up front with a bit of almost elusive smoke.  Salted toffee and brine.  Lemon polish and orange.  Seaside-ish, but also quite farmyard-ish.  Rye bread.  Malty and carrying a little bit of feintiness.  Dried fruit and dusty old chocolate.  To be honest…not quite up to snuff.

Palate:  Salty and somewhat pickle-ish (without being really dill-y.  More malty, rye notes.  Raisin and lemon juice.  Dried fruits seem more vibrant here…maybe even jammy.  Smoke and earth.  Tannic and drying.  Better palate than nose.

Thoughts:  Maybe not the best of cask quality here.  Still more than decent, but this is the kind of Port Ellen that makes people question whether or not they’re really worth the (ever growing) price tag.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 1983 (OMC) Cask #3042

50% abv

Score:  89.5/100

Here’s a treat from the last days of Port Ellen.  This Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask release was distilled within two months of the distillery shuttering its gates once and for all.

I’ve read and heard that Port Ellen’s closure had as much to do with inferiority of distillate as it did with being surplus to requirements at the nadir of the early ’80s whisky crash.  Let’s call this the ‘Great Malt Depression’.  Whether or not that perceived inferiority was a reality or not is not something I’ve been able to determine for myself, simply because the only Port Ellens I’ve tried to date have all been at least 20 years of age.  It’s hard to argue with the fact that 20 years in a barrel is going to do good things for almost any whisky.  The true test, of course, would be sample the young malt (or even new make spirit) alongside a young Caol Ila and young Lagavulin from the same era and see if there was a noticeable disparity.

At this point though, I’m not really sure and don’t really care.  What can be claimed with a reasonable amount of certainty – and supported by empirical evidence (however subjectively assessed) – is that Port Ellen is definitely a spirit that ages well.  Further, in the interest of greater understanding, this is a subject to which I’m more than happy to devote research time.

This particular bottling is one from the warehouses of Douglas Laing (long before the brothers split the company).  The Laings seem to have been sitting on a gold mine of Port Ellen, and if the fates are kind, they still are.  ATW’s own deviant, Maltmonster, put together his own assessment on what he believes are remaining PE stocks in a feature piece here.  Hmmmm.  Only time will tell, I suppose, but hopefully he’s well shy of the true numbers.

This make went into wood as a babe in 1983 and came out a strapping young 20-something in 2006.  Those interim 23 years were spent coming of age in a refill sherry butt, which eventually conceded a total of 549 siblings (errr…bottles).

Nose:  Very ‘Port Ellen-esque’.  Briny, oily and citric.  Oysters on the half shell.  Smoke and a bit of peat, which seems to be riding off into the sunset.  More salt and iodine.  Deepest of dark fruit threads.  Maybe (just maybe) some very dry pithy grapefruit.  Very nice nose…almost classic Port Ellen.

Palate:  Not quite as strong as the nose, but still damn fine.  Bold and citric.  Some chocolate.  Salty and smoky.  Kinda flinty.  Fades into the cereals.

Overall quite typical and expected.  And that’s a good thing.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 1982 (Connoisseur’s Choice)

40% abv

Score:  86/100

Port Ellen is arguably my favorite distillery.  Sorta hard to explain why, and have it make any sense if you’ve never tasted the whisky, but lemme try anyway…

I’ve had better malts from dozens of other distilleries.  I’ve drank some Port Ellen that was rather mediocre.  I’ve also tasted Port Ellens that were borderline bad.  So how is it then that I can even suggest it may be the distillery nearest and dearest to my shriveled l’il black heart?  Quite simply because there is a certain allure, mystique and untouchable magic in the whiskies from this closed Islay distillery.  Most of you who’ve been around for a while will be thinking ‘wait…I thought Ardbeg (or maybe even Amrut) was your favorite.’  While those two certainly hold pride of place for operational distilleries, there’s just something intangible and inexplicably shiver-inducing about sipping drams from the lost currents of time.

It’s been more than 30 years now since spirit flowed from the stills at Port Ellen, but for those nostalgiacs (is that a word?) still suffering the pangs of heartache, there’s cold comfort in the fact that time stands still for any unopened bottles of Port Ellen floating around out there.  If you can still score a bottle (or more)…do so.  And don’t be shy about sharing the experience with friends when you finally pop the cork.

This Connoisseurs Choice release is a rather young PE, by current standards, at a mere 21 years of age.  I’d almost guess younger even, to be honest.  The dram itself is more than decent, however, sadly, 40% is not the way to serve this up.  That’s like playing Slayer at elevator music volume.  Port Ellen needs to be amped up to allow all of the delicate intricacies of the spirit to show through.

Nose:  Grassy and herbal, but the citrus bites first.  A nice sweet / sour balancing act.  Mild peat and smoke, but wood smoke (not quite as bold as a mesquite or hickory, but very pronounced nevertheless).  Hay bales meet dunnage warehouse.  Quite a zippy fruit mix.  Pomegranate…and maybe orange.  Soft vanilla.

Palate:  Waxy.  Again…grassy and herbal.  Thin burnt notes.  Smoked fruit skins.  More peat and smoke than the nose lets on.  That smokiness hangs around a bit and dries out nicely.  Much less sweetness than the nose as well.  Palate doesn’t quite deliver what the nose hints at.  Thin in terms of flavor, mouth feel and staying power.  Still a good drink, but…to cop a cliché…’woefully underpowered’.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen (OMC) Cask #6397

50% abv

Score:  92.5/100

The most knowledgable chap I know when it comes to Port Ellen insists that the true embodiment of the distillery’s character is best found in the Douglas Laing bottlings from about 1983.  Anywhere from 22-27 years old.  Who am I to argue?  The guy has more Port Ellen stocks than Wilt Chamberlain had notches on his bed posts.

This Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Port Ellen from 1983, the year of the distillery’s closure, is an absolute killer.  This is the distillery at the top of its game.  Vibrant…defined…balanced…exceptional.  It is releases like this that have helped escalate Port Ellen into the stratosphere.

I’m somewhat in awe of the perfect seesaw act happening here.  There is an interplay between fruit and phenol here that relies on the bottler finding that elusive spot in the maturation process between young and old.  This PE is perfectly centered.  Almost as bewildering is the fact that the finish here is like one long sustained note.  Something akin to the perfect melodies on Miles Davis’s flawless ‘Kind Of Blue’.  Usually as a whisky fades, the finish goes through stages of evolution and the denouement is a mere hint of the magnificence of the preceding crescendo.  In this case, it sorta seems like the crescendo is simply having the volume slowly…ever so slowly…turned down until ultimately you strain to hear that same sustained beauty.  Brilliant.

This Port Ellen came from a refill hogshead that managed to produce 199 bottles at 50% abv.  Very low numbers, but fortunately I do know of a not-so-dusty shelf in a friend’s basement where two more bottles of this PE rest in peaceful slumbers.  Hopefully, long after my bottle is empty, I’ll one day get to try again, as this is one of my favorite Port Ellens to date.

Nose:  Nice mild phenols at first.  Some peach and pears in syrup.  Orange and lemon.  Tar.  As it develops there are bigger notes of dry smoke and dunnage.  Somewhat dusty.  Briny seaside notes.  Delicate, yet the billows of smoke become ever more pungent and impressive.  Mature and lovely.  An absolutely great Port Ellen nose.

Palate:  Oh, wow…what an arrival.  First the playful smoke…then apples.  Lemon and smoked white fish.  Licorice.  The hallmark of mature Islay malt whisky.  Long, long, long finish.  Beautiful and glides through with no off notes or decline in quality as it fades.  Amazing dram.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 1982 25 y.o. Cask # 2847 (Signatory)

57% abv

Score:  87.5/100

Here’s an interesting Port Ellen.

It’s also a great whisky to illustrate a prevalent misconception out there.  The misconception that a distillery’s storied reputation means that all of their whiskies are/were exceptional.  Port Ellen holds an almost mystical cache among nearly all of us whisky geeks, and I’m not arguing against that.  I’d simply like to make the point that Port Ellen is held in the esteem it is for more reasons than purely quality of the dram.

Port Ellen was a good whisky.  There’s no denying that.  It does need to be taken into account though, that Islay whiskies have been very much in demand for years now, and the lure of a rare Islay malt from a distillery that closed almost three decades ago?  How can you resist that call?  Most releases you’re liable to get your hands on (if at all) are in the mid twenties to early thirties age bracket.  Generally speaking (very generally…not saying this is a rule) older whisky is better than younger whisky.  So…here’s what  we end up with:

Good whisky + appeal of scarcity + age = 3/4 of the Port Ellen mystique.

The other 1/4?  For me anyway is that this is a glass of history.  Every drop consumed is one less in the world.  There is something infinitely heartbreaking about that.  Each time I sit down to a dram of Port Ellen it is an occasion and gives pause for relection.  And that plays right into why we love single malt whisky.

Make no mistake…I love Port Ellen.  I adore the malt and the tale behind it.  But I also love honesty, and it is important to let others know that not all Port Ellen releases are ‘holy grails’ or ‘white whales’.

This is a 25 year old Signatory single cask release.  It was matured in a refill sherry butt and arguably boasts the most sherry influence I’ve ever seen levied on a Port Ellen.  The bottle says ‘matured in a refill sherry butt’.  Note the word ‘matured’, as opposed to ‘finished’.  I can only assume the whisky spent its entire life in this butt.  417 bottles were pulled from the cask after 25 years in wood and the whisky itself was still at a healthy 57%.  This is a flawed Port Ellen, for sure, but really still quite enjoyable.

Nose:  A touch of sulphur right off.  Raisin tart.  Far off cherry and a little orange.  Leather and tobacco.  Camphor.  Somewhat barn-y.  Deep smoke that, with a swirl, expands exponentially.  Wet rocks.  Some burnt notes atop the peat.  Citrus.

Palate:  Smoke.  Again…you can taste a bit of sulphur and ash.  Cherry and plum stand out amidst juicy sherry notes.  Chocolate.  Some licorice and iodine.  Granny Smith apple and smoked wood chips in tandem.  Wet hay.  Really, really nice finish, lingering on fruits and…yeah…more smoke.

Extra half mark is for such a deep and resonant finish.

The sulphur note is a little tough to get around, but fortunately it is cushioned in a vast assortment of velvety fruit notes and some rather typical and comforting sherry familiarities.

And hey…it’s Port Ellen.  Isn’t it always going to be enjoyable?  This is history in a glass, people.  You’re drinking the intangible.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 6^th Release

54.2% abv

Score:  92/100

An absolutely stunning example of how a peated malt can mellow into one of the most breathtaking spirits on the planet.  This is whisky pulled from the cask at its apex and bottled to be held in a perfect state of suspended animation.

You may not be able to get behind all that Diageo does, but it’s hard not to give credit where credit is due.  Case in point; these natural releases of Port Ellen.  Some better than others, of course, but man…they really are in a league of their own.

Now before I start fending off the ‘Islay fanboy’ accusations, just keep in mind that this is a 27 year malt.  27 years to age and soften, develop and ‘become’.

The nose…coastal and oh soooo sexy.  That beautiful mature peaty profile plays well against a backdrop of fruit cocktail and Lemon Pledge.  Notes of salted greens and melon.  Phenols are rather tame and old wood brings that vaguely dusty latex scent.  Creamier than I would have expected in all honesty, but still manages to hit some of the more jagged tors that cask strength Islay whiskies often boast.  And finally…notes of seaside familiarity.  At this age…rather delicate (even at 54.2%) and Caol Ila-ish.

Large and in charge delivery.  Oily and bold.  Love the smoky seaweedy notes and coastal profile.  Dusty cask, licorice, tar and iodine.  Green apple skins on the finish.

A great dram.  In short supply, but long in our hearts.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt