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