Islay Legend - Port Ellen

This was supposed to be the whisky that started the year, though it was not to be a couple of weeks ago. The legendary Islay distillery that closed down - Port Ellen. After closing in the 80s, the remaining stock was bought by Diageo, and released annually as part of its yearly Special Release. Prices of the Special Release vary between a thousand to several thousands, if you can even find them at all. The Whisky Distillery at Ion carries a few of the Port Ellen Special Releases, if you're interested. Costs a bomb though.

This particular Port Ellen was distilled in 1982, just a year before the distillery closed. It's bottled as part of Vom Fass's Fassination series, though the label says that it's from Hunter Laing and Co. Did Hunter Laing buy the stock from Port Ellen 30 years ago to mature it themselves? Or did they buy it off Diageo after maturation? So...Vom Fass bought it from Hunter Laing? Why didn't Hunter Laing sell it themselves? Mystery.

This baby is 30 years old, and there are only 30 bottles available worldwide. If you've read my blog from its very beginning, you'll know this bottle - it was the one I saw at Vom Fass, but walked away from. Really glad that my friend DW bought it instead of some random rich Indonesian businessman. I was really excited when DW decided to open this as part of his housewarming celebrations. Cue mass horror, paralysis, shock, stasis and gnashing of team when the cork broke in the bottle. DW did not have a corkscrew in his new home, and thus, the Port Ellen was literally one inch away, but we had to pass it by.

After going home, DW unplugged the bottle, and decanted its contents into a wine decanter temporarily. The stopper wasn't airtight though, so better bottles needed to be sought quickly. I went back to Vom Fass, and this is the result:

It filled two 250ml bottles and about 3/4 of a third. I licked the funnel and the spare drop from pouring, and it was excellent. And rather unglam.

We sealed the two full bottles with tape, and tried the whisky from the last one.

Port Ellen 30, bottled by Vom Fass, 16 of 30 (53.1% abv)

Colour - Rich gold. The cask is a refill hogshead. It looks fairly viscous.

Nose - My goodness. Ok, let me get this down in order. Lemon citrus, really fresh. How? This is 30 years old, right? And that's the first wafts that comes up too. Smoke behind the lemon, and really salty. This is a beach! Salt, and suggestions of algae. Fairly sharp sea breeze with the saline levels and citrusy touch. Oak, liquorice, freshly shaven wood. Subtle fruits here, though I can't quite pin it. I would say something like...ripe peaches. But it's subtle. Some spices - pepper and ginger. The peat is somewhat muted, more vegetal than medicinal. Give it some time, and it gets a little malty and meaty - oatmeal porridge with a bit of salted fish-infused ham. No, that doesn't exist. 

Palate - This texture is unique. Like nothing I've had before. It's so fat and viscous, it feels like gel rather than liquid. A blob of whisky instead of a sip of liquid. Really, really full on the mouth. Leathery and chewy, as advertised. This is mind-boggling. Initial burst of smoke, and a lot of sharp lemons, before settling down. The spices - pepper and ginger - are there throughout. Oak is fairly present, but a really nice support for the smoke. Salty and savoury, though not bacon territory. Maybe a lightly smoked ham that's been blanched or soaked in soup for a while - reminds me of the ham they put in your macaroni with soup in Hong Kong's cafes. But with smoke. The fruits are, as they were on the nose, fairly subtle. Pears, peaches, and a hint of...chiku? That'll be sapodilla, for those of you in colder climes. There's a touch of sawdust on this palate. There's a growing minerality - copper and limestone, that somehow goes really well with the viscous texture. That's an amazing development. 30 years well spent.

Finish - Long, lingering smokiness. The lemony citrus stays too. Fairly drying, and strong hints of tea tannins. Salty and gingery/peppery. Somehow, still somewhat metallic. There's wood too. Metal and wood - that's basic materials for Civilizations building.

Overall - Mind-boggling, and amazing. I hope that this isn't the last Port Ellen I will ever taste. And, many thanks to DW for sharing it so generously.

A brush with a legend

A couple of days ago, I was having dinner at Westgate, and casually walked into Vom Fass, just to browse at the whisky offerings. The selection at Vom Fass changes pretty quickly as sales seem to be pretty good, and they have many shops worldwide to circulate stock around. Apart from regular bottlings from the distilleries, they also carry some independent bottlings like Douglas Laing's bottles, though these are fewer in number, and availability may vary from time to time. I've found the prices there to be pretty reasonable, given Singapore's ridiculously high alcohol levy. What is most fascinating is the selection of Vom Fass independent bottlings, under their Fasszination series, and other whiskies that they decant at the shop, which can be browsed on the website.

The Fasszination series is a series of whiskies bottled at high strength, some at cask strength, that are different from what's commonly on the market. For example, they have a Bowmore 14, which is not a common year for a Bowmore. They also have on their barrel shaped decanters things like a 19 year old Bunnahabain, 23 year old Bruichladdich, and a couple of Irish whiskies, and so on.

Before this starts to sound like an advertisement, I'll quickly move on to the point of this post.

On the shelf of Fasszinations, I was browsing from left to right. Auchentoshan 12 CS, Bowmore 14, a couple more Bowmores (including one at 26 years), a Glen Garioch, and, at the end of the shelf, with no price tag, sat...

A 30 year old Port Ellen, CS, bottled in 2013. Bottle 21 of 30.

I took it off the shelf immediately.

One out of 30 in the world, from a silent, legendary distillery. Aged for 30 years. What are the odds?

The sales lady smiled, as if she knew that I had picked up the treasure of her shop, and told me that this baby would cost $1840. For one wild moment, I considered buying it.

$1840 is about the price range for any 30 year old whisky that you can find in Singapore. Crazily, the Yamazaki 18 is being sold for about $800, while the 25 goes up to $4000 or even more. And the Yamazakis are still in production. On the other hand, a 30 year old cask strength Port Ellen is going for $1840. Feels like a (very expensive) steal. Demand and supply skewing prices out of proportion, really.

But, fighting that impulse, I put the bottle back on the shelf. And walked out of the shop. I'll start saving a portion of my yearly alcohol budget, and maybe a few years later, I'll come look for this legendary Islay again (though I am painfully aware that, by writing about it here, I'm reducing the odds that it'll still be around when I finally scrap my loose change together. Ah well).

A brush with a legendary malt. What a heady feeling. Drunk, without even drinking a sip.