60,7°
Distillery : Port Ellen - Islay
Independent Bottling
By Gordon & MacPhail
Limited Edition
Single Malt
Bottled in 2000
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength
Peated around 35 ppm
This is my first foray into the world of this legendary distillery, which closed in 1983 and was recently reopened. This bottling is a blend of two casks, so it's not quite a Single Cask. At the time, it was barely a year before the release of Port Ellen 1st Release, which would reveal to the world the incredible quality of this hitherto unknown distillery. So, at the time of its release, this bottling was nothing exceptional, it was a curiosity.
Let's Taste It :
Delicately farmhouse peat, but also sweet, raw wheat, fruit paste, pistachio loukoum, waves of fine smoke that gradually envelop the nose, white grapes, braised almonds, green apples, white peaches, ripe pears. Notes of gypsum, slate and limestone, with a medicinal touch in the background. It's very smooth on the palate, the peat becomes discreet, various white fruits, cereals galore, muesli cake, almond and coconut milk, white chocolate, barely perceptible spices. Very long, interminable finish, digging into gypsum, icing sugar, white currants, rice powder, creamy vanilla, liquorice stick.
In Short,
The legend is justified, this is indeed an exceptional bottling, and far from the best, if the experts are to be believed. Subtle but full of character peat that doesn't mask a deluge of fruits and rustic cereals. Intense mineral notes, incomparable mellowness, a gourmet edge... I'm probably getting carried away, but this one has everything you need to make a great whisky. As for the price, it is of course astronomical, but you have to take into account the rarity of the product. Even if the distillery is here again, it will never be the same. It's a nectar lost forever.
Score : 91
To Be Listened While Sipping :
A Tergo Lupi - Furia
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