PORT ELLEN 1978 - RARE MALT SELECTION

You've probably seen my review of the 1966 Bruichladdich I brought 'home' to Islay to drink empty...

A very good whisky compadre of mine did the same thing for this trip - only he brought a bottle of Rare Malt 1978 22yo Port Ellen to finish - what a great guy, eh? :-)

Here's my take on it...

Port Ellen Bay, May 12th 2015 © The Malt Desk 2015

Port Ellen 1978 22yo (October 2000) 60,5%, Rare Malt Selection

Colour is straw

Nose:
Very fresh and lively, lots of what I'd call ozone freshness, but also quite a lot of peat and sweetness, like some very discreet refill sherry casks. Add some seashore saltiness and a mineral note as well - like some rubble going through a grinder. Also some vanilla in there along with a style I can only refer to as a Clynelish-like waxiness, tar/chimney in there as well + some fruit note I can't quite put my finger on... The whole thing is quite balanced... even at 60,5%

Taste:
Is this really 60,5%?? its quite gentle, actually... though maybe you have to be a regular cask strength whisky drinker to think like that... We got peat and smoke in here, of course, but never in more that it allows some lovely boiled fruit notes, some lemon and peppery spices to come though. There's quite a coastal/maritime edge to this one as well with more tar, salt, and what I'd imagine licking a lobster pod would taste like.


Everything comes perfect measures, no note outweighs the others - which is makes this close to, if not, a classic!!

Finally, a huge thanks to MBO for bringing this bottle to Islay!

91/100!

PORT ELLEN 1982 24YO - BLADNOCH FORUM

I've often, at least in some circles, hinted at Port Ellen being nothing but a mediocre Islay malt, this of course to provoke a response from the die hard fans out there, totally infatuated with Port Ellen for one reason only...  it's a closed distillery. Granted, it down not make much of a malt at a young age (early teens) and the distillery was also originally built to produce malt for blends.

Then owners 'United Distillers' (now Diageo) decided to focus on Caol Ila as their workhorse, producing at the time around x4 times as much spirit as Port Ellen, making that the final blow that would close down the plant... only they did not know how well Port Ellen, or at least the ones (mostly single casks) we see, would mature. Some are stunning - some are, honestly, not very good and certainly not worth whats charged for a bottle of Port Ellen these days. If you want to try something similar to a well aged Port Ellen, go buy a bottle of Caol Ila in its late 20's at a fraction of the price of a Port Ellen...

But like I said, there has also been some cracking single casks bottlings out there and I've been fortunate enough to taste a good deal on my whisky journey so far. There have been some duds along the way as well, but the ones that have made their way onto this measly little blog have all been from good to great! and this next one is great too...

Port Ellen seafront warehouse, October 9th 2008 © The Malt Desk

Port Ellen 1982 (13.10.1982/xx.11.2006) 24yo, 60,4%, Sherry butt#2461, 644 bottles, Bladnoch Forum

Colour is pale amber


Nose:
Initially very little peat or sherry, but instead a very mashy/malty theme along with some vanillas and a baked apple note, hint of cookie dough and something herbal. Feels very fresh, in fact - like a windy day the beach.

Taste:
Drying (alcohol), very delicate spirit here, much more seafront appears - salt, seaweedy, tackle box, some white fruit and a lovely balanced peat followed by a sherried sweetness that gives away to a huge malt surge. Also a citrus burst in there and the whole thing finishes off with medium spicy/peppery finish.

Personally, I love this style of whisky, especially its malt surge is huge!...which is why this one goes all the way up to:

91/100! ... and no extra point for being a PE ;-)

PORT ELLEN 1982 25YO - BLADNOCH FORUM

Sitting here on a late Wednesday night, well its actually turned Thursday by now and have just opened a bottle of Brora from a single sherry butt... very befitting as I'll be doing a review from a distillery that closed the same year (1983) as Port Ellen.

Both were owned by the United Distillers aka Diageo these days... and many words from anoraks has been uttered in agony over the closure of these 2 distilleries. That said, I'm not gonna utter more - I'll just be happy with opportunities I've had to try Port Ellens (and Broras) and being able to go and open a bottle from these distilleries if I feel like it.

This Port Ellen was bottled around 6 years ago when Raymond Armstrong of Bladnoch Distillery was doing bottlings for the members of his online forum... this was before whisky prices went ape shit and this bottle of Port Ellen was aquired for about (without being sure) around £70-80 - great, eh? However, this is now all gone, but instead Raymond's son Martin (whiskybroker.co.uk) is bottling casks also at very decent prices...

Now on to the review...

Port Ellen Bay, Sea front warehouses and pagodas, 5th May 2011 © The Malt Desk

Port Ellen 1982 25yo (xx.11.2007) refill sherry butt#2036, 58,1%, 638 bottles, Bladnoch Forum

Colour is pale gold

Nose:
Old citrus smell, almost OBE, fish box, dull peat, seaweed, salty, oily (petrol). Also some rum soaked fruit in there. After a while some pineapple notes appear among the peaty ones, also some kippery notes in there. Good balance between an almost slight medicinal side and fruity notes...

Taste:
Arrives on citrus notes, peat, tar, shellfish, fishing docks, seaside moss, very mineraly.
Also some dried fruit (supermarket snacks). Old wet oak, spices and getting slightly herbal too. Some barley sugar and peat rounds the whole thing off. The finish is loooong on drying oak and peat.

A lovely expression, but not worth the money PE bottlings are collecting these days...

88/100!

PORT ELLEN 1982 - WHISKY DORIS

I'll be finishing off 2012 and my first 7 months of reviews and reports by wishing all a

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Small German bottler and not least shop owner (Whisky) Doris Debbeler and her husband Herbert releases some very good bottlings from time to time. Rumours says their team as rejected several casks lately because the quality simple wasn't up to their standards... and that is certainly setting the bar high - but also a sign that they won't endorse just anything from a cask.

This is the first Whisky Doris bottling I'll be reviewing for the blog, although in the past I've tried a couple from the WD-team without taking any notes... I remember those as really good too...

Anyway, so why not kick this off with a review of a Port Ellen...

Port Ellen 1982 29yo (xx.03.1982/08.09.2011) 58,5%, refill bourbon hogshead#18, 212 bottles, Whisky Doris

Colour is full straw

Nose:
Sea breeze, sweet oak, tropical fruits - pineapple and melon, gentle peat and salt. Gets a mineral and oily note along with lemons and vanilla custard.

Taste:
Very coastal, balanced oak and smoke, the tropical fruitiness is very clear here, salty, very citrussy, getting some medicinal hints mid-palate, also smoked sweet cured salmon and herbs. Nothing ever goes overboard here - everything from the peat, oak and fruits are just beautifully measured here.

A nice addition to any Port Ellen shelf...

90/100!

PORT ELLEN 1982 - WILSON & MORGAN

Again, no need for further introduction to Port Ellen...

Port Ellen 1982 28yo 60%, refill sherry butt#2033, 534 bottles, Wilson & Morgan Barrel Selection

Colour is full straw

Nose:
Upon initial pour a heavy bacon crisp nose and sweetness. After a short while it gives away to brine, salt, mint, citrus and a wet camp fire style smokiness and hint of chocolate... further time reveals some farmyard notes as well - Lovely nose, for sure!

Taste:
Very lightly peated, much in style Caol Ilas around the 30yo mark as well. Its sweet, nutty and drying with citrus and also carries a hint of herbs and very delicate sherry notes - very mouth coating. Water brings out more smoke but still preserves much of the same overall notes.

A great Port Ellen this one! No doubt about that!

90/100!

PORT ELLEN 1983 23YO - DOUGLAS LAING - PROVENANCE

Here's a quick and dirty review of Port Ellen I certainly found at an 'old' price (€172) in a wine shop here in Denmark. Yes, €172 may seem a lot for a Provenance bottling, but then stuff like this usually goes for around €250 or more here...

Port Ellen 1983 23yo winter 83/winter 06 46%, refill butt#3229, Douglas McGibbon Provenance

Straw coloured

Nose:
Soot, salt camp fire, Fisherman's Friend, sweetness, tar and light peat, seaweed, boiled fruits and some 'old cask effect'.

Taste:
Candied fruits, sweet malt and then peat and a nip of oak. Fresh scallops and sandy beaches also comes to mind, hot frying pan and warm salad? Oak vanilla and warm camp fire ash...

A good Port Ellen at 23yo - most ones we see now are hitting the 30yo mark, so a nice change in the opposite direction and this one certainly shows lots more than many of the older Port Ellens I've had earlier. (not reviewed on this blog).

89/100!

PORT ELLEN 1983 26YO - DUNCAN TAYLOR

Once again I know that one shouldn't drink with your eyes, but this one... and as with many other dark sherry bottlings - they seem to fly off the shelves at retailers - especially if there's a prominent name on the bottle label... It was no different with this one, since the label said 'Port Ellen'...

Port Ellen 1983 26yo 54,6% xx.03.2983/xx.01.2010 sherry cask#674, 282 bottles, Duncan Taylor 'Rarest of the Rare'

Light Mahogany in colour

Nose:
Been looking forward to this one... I mean, the colour alone on this one looks so delicous.
My hopes and wishes for this one is to have the perfect balance between sherry and peat.

It hits your nose with perfectly integrated peat and sherry, then sherry and peat - wow, just perfect! Just the right amounts of each brings this PE's nose right up there with the best.
heavily roasted, slightly burned coffee beans and hints of old rum, dark fruits and exotic spices. Lets hope the palate can keep up...

Taste:
Bitter sweet arrival with oak, peat and high quality oloroso sherry - not a single off-note here! Again everything is beautifully measured to just the right levels in this one. The sherry, peat and smoky malt and dark fruits are just incredibly mouthfilling. The rum and spices also pops up again mid-palate only to fade into a sweet drying peat smoke that just lingeres on and on...

This is top notch peathead pudding for sure! ...and some of the best PE I've had along with the Mackillops from a couple of reviews ago!

92/100!

PORT ELLEN 1983 27YO - DUNCAN TAYLOR

This bottling is one of only 3 bottlings of Port Ellen to leave the bottling line at Duncan Taylor in Huntly. This one is from a refill sherry cask...

Port Ellen 1983 27yo 49,4%, xx.03.1983/xx.05.2010, refill sherry cask#672, 278 bottles, Duncan Taylor ‘Rarest of the Rare’

Pale gold in colour

Nose:

Strange one, this one… its Port Ellen for sure when you stick your nose in it, but almost no smoke/peat comes off this thing. After a short while it turns gristy/mashy and farmyardy. I find some salty notes on the nose as well, but this feels a bit off to me somehow – like the mashy nose doesn’t quite mix well with rest.

Taste:

Tastewise, you sure do get the mashy notes, I get a lot of notes from like drinking from a washback only mellowed by the oak and then some peat, and let’s be clear - this is not a peat monster although it does have some.

Finish is, well, a finish on the same notes as in the taste and not that long.

In my book it’s a good PE but with no major buzz'n'fuzz to be had about.

87/100!

PORT ELLEN 1979 - MACKILLOP'S CHOICE

Time for a Port Ellen trio over 3 days... First up a Mackillop's Choice bottling and then finishing off with the only 2 Port Ellens ever bottled by Duncan Taylor in their 'Rarest of the Rare'-series.

To my knowledge, this is the only Port Ellen ever bottled by Lorne Mackillop.
I've tried several bottlings from other distilleries in this series and they have all been good.
I wonder if this one can live up to that...

Port Ellen 1979 30yo 30.08.1979/xx.06.2010, 51,9% cask#5585, Mackillops Choice

Straw coloured

Nose:
Wham! Already when you pour this one the massive smoke hits you. I poured this one standing up and solid peat smoke hit me even then – didn’t even have to bring the glass to my nose. Sitting down and spending a little time with this one, a sweetness comes through almost immediately too, like some candied and/or salt sprinkled nuts and a huge malt sweetness. Big, big nose!

Taste:
Full force palate arrival. Salt, peat, some oak going to the back of your mouth.
Then malt - tonnes of it! Turning sweet with vanilla, fruit and an almondy note, maybe...then again massive malt sweetness turning all ale like and lasting forever! What a PE!

91/100!

PORT ELLEN 1983 - DOUGLAS MCGIBBON PROVENANCE - PART VIII

Another distillery that does not need any introduction, is the closed Port Ellen Distillery.
Not counting its founding and early production years, the distillery was shut down after a relatively short lifespan from 1967-1983... and with only an annual output of about 800.000 liters of spirit, bottles have now become rare and expensive. After Port Ellen Distillery closed, production was increased at another Diageo (back then UDV)distillery instead namely Caol Ila, making it biggest distillery on Islay for many years now.

Last year saw another expansion at Caol Ila with new the installation of 2 new washbacks, making it possible for the distillery to up the output to a massive 6.400.000 liters of spirit annually.

There's much debate on how much Port Ellen that are actually left in Scotland, both with the owners Diageo and with the independent bottlers, of which Douglas Laing here in reputed to have some stock left...and its a bottle from this stock that goes in the review below:

Port Ellen 1983 27yo 46%, refill sherry butt#DMG6101, Douglas McGibbon Provenance

Bright gold coloured

Nose:
Sweet fruits, cut mango, melon, an ashy peat along with quite some salt.

Taste:
Fruits and peat are the dominant players here. then quite some coastal notes incl the before mentioned salt, but also hint of seaweed and a wet sand note (mineral note?)

The thing about Port Ellen is, that it can be both very mediocre and downright fantastic whisky. This is very enjoyable, but far from the best Port Ellen I've ever tried....and at the price they're charging for Port Ellen these days, I'd rather pay less that half and get a bottle of old Caol Ila, which -in my opinion- has much of the same characteristics as a Port Ellen.

85/100!

This post also concludes the 8-part series on indie bottler Douglas Laing.
Hope you've enjoyed the reviews.