| |
Home
Thousands of tastings,
all the ramblings
and all the fun
(hopefully!)
Whiskyfun.com
Guaranteed ad-free
copyright 2002-2026
|
 |
|
| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
| |
|
| |
| |
January 5, 2026 |
|
  |
|
|
WF's Little Duos,
two rare vintage Port Ellens of very high strength |
|
| Cask filling at Port Ellen, mid-1970s (Diageo) |
I was just thinking the other day that we didn’t even taste any Port Ellen over the holidays — which is really quite unusual. Especially considering that one of them, the official 42-year-old released for the 200th Anniversary, was our favourite new whisky of last year. To make up for it, we’re going to select two older, yet still relatively young versions — rather rare ones, and above all, from vintages that are quite uncommon. |
|
Port Ellen 17 yo 1980/1997 (61.8%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection) 
We know full well that the very pale whiskies from this ‘small cream label’ series were often perilously close to kerosene, albeit a kerosene of immense charm, letting the distillate take centre stage while pushing any notion of oak neatly aside, which rather contrasts with what most contemporary Scottish brands tend to do these days, does it not. Anyway, let us buckle up… Colour: pale white wine. Nose: frankly, it really does smell like kerosene, or like the tarmac at a provincial airport in the middle of the summer holidays. But the fact remains that, gradually, everything becomes both oilier and softer, with almond milk, damp cardboard, hair lacquer, a few touches of tar and cabbage forming quite the duo, plus just a few drops of lime juice. Yet all of it remains impressively austere for the time being. With water: hardly changes, save for a hint of Woolite and the floor of an old petrol station. Mouth (neat): an explosion of salt and tarry cardboard, quite incredible. Even the saltiest Taliskers are not as salty as this. Quick, some water… With water: still vast quantities of salt. We're not talking ‘salinity’ or ‘minerality’ here, but rather proper sodium chloride, even potassium salt. Mad stuff. Finish: virtually eternal, and still massively salty. Comments: people often talk about seawater, but this one really does make you feel as though you're drinking it. Extremely hard to score—there’s something downright philosophical about this incredible malt.
SGP:267 - 89 points. |
|
Port Ellen 15 yo 1977 (63.6%, Sestante, +/-1992) 
One rather fears the worst given the bottling strength. Just kidding a little, though not too much… Some of the 1977s from similar sources were notoriously tricky to handle, even bordering on unpleasant. Colour: gold. Nose: no, not at all, it’s almost as gentle as a lamb compared to Cadenhead’s salt bomb, despite the lofty strength, with those splendid notes of bitter almond and earthy tar that scream ‘PE’, and above all, that gentian mingled with liquorice. With water: magnificent, very precise, very PE, very ‘Rare Malts’, with more brine, tar, coal ash and gherkins. Mouth (neat): it’s beautiful, very clean, very peppery, quite a bit on hydrocarbons and even salt, but once again, it comes across almost polite after the 1980 of doom. With water: the cavalry is unleashed—samphires, oysters, petrol, seaweed, olives, salmiak, lime, and still loads of tar. Truth be told, Port Ellen without tar would be Glenkinchie (utter nonsense, S). Finish: long, lively, saltier once more, yet magnificently rooty too, with the gentian and black olives charging back in. The peppers fire back in the aftertaste. Comments: it’s obviously superb, a proper beast of a dram.
SGP:367 - 92 points. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
