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This sweet, intense, enigmatic and uncompromising Port Ellen is a complex tour de force of aromas and flavours. Little wonder then that bottlings from this closed Islay distillery are very rare and highly sought after – especially at this age, being from refill European Oak butts filled in 1983, which was the last year of production.
From Port Ellen on the Isle of Islay.
Polished teak with good beading.
Deeply fruity, with red apple skins or fresh pears in wine, then a rich toffee note develops, over a waxy mineral base – becoming beach-like, with hot sand, sea air, seaweed, bonfire ash.
Medium.
Sweet, prickly and drying, with a great mix of wood ash, burnt jam tarts, treacle toffee and caramelized orange. Then yet more all-pervading smoke with a spicy-herbal complex.
Deeply herbal and heavy with wood smoke: drying, yet also coating, and of course instantly appetising, with toffee apple, burnt toast, lemon zest, ripe red apples, a burnt plum tart.
Make: Port EllenTM
Age: 32 years old
Strength: 53.9% ABV
Place of Origin: Port Ellen
Region: Dufftown
Immediate, intense and very complex. At first it’s deeply fruity, with red apple skins or fresh pears in wine. Presently a rich toffee note develops, over a waxy mineral base that becomes beach-like (hot sand, sea air, seaweed, bonfire ash) as the assault grows. Meanwhile, away from the beach, soft liquid brown sugar mud-wrestles menthol while dried orange peel, fruitcake and far-off fresh clean notes, soon joined by toffee, honey and ripe autumnal fruits, look on from seats of ex-sherry wood. Beautifully honeyed with water, as the toffee is wreathed in wood smoke to yield a sweet pungency, with just a memory of malt. Body: Medium.
Wonderful at natural strength. Sweet, prickly and drying, with a great mix of wood ash, burnt jam tarts, treacle toffee and caramelized orange. Then yet more all-pervading smoke with a spicy-herbal complex featuring cloves. Water makes things cooler and milder yet doesn’t alter the well-balanced flavour profile. Dark toffee first, then smoked meats, kippers, ash and cleansing phenols.
Long, cooling and complex: drying, yet also coating. Instantly appetising, with toffee apple, burnt toast, lemon zest, ripe red apples, a burnt plum tart. Deeply herbal and heavy with wood smoke, which is softer with water: minty now, with barley sugar, while the charred toast is spread with honey.
