Port Ellen Pe1 Elements of Islay Speciality Drinks Ltd. 58.7% 2009

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (93)

Colour: pale amber. Nose: I must say I’m not surprised the good people at TWE/Specialty Drinks chose a sherried version, and what a version. A lot of chocolate at very first nosing, then a little gunpowder, then the same kinds of fruits as in the 1982, only dried or crystallised instead of fresh. There’s also quite some wildness behind all that, with a little game and quite some balsamic vinegar. Quite some ham too. State of the art sherried PE so far. With water: warning, you have to like this kind of profile! Indeed, it got very different, with something like clams plus well-hung game, before it settled down a bit with more fresh almonds and marzipan. Even praline. What a rollercoaster! Mouth (neat): you can’t tame a good PE, can you? It’s as if the spirit refused the sherry’s influence on the palate! There is some sherry, of course, but the spirit is that big that the wine’s influence gets sort of peripheral (do you see what I mean?) A very nervous PE, zesty, lemony, wild, herbal, biting… It’s the wildest of them all despite the sherry cask. With water: appeased, on high-end Cuban cigar, bitter chocolate, coffee and Corinth raisins. Hey hey, the sherry stroke back! Finish: endless, with a little mint and many other flavours. Splendid retro-olfaction. Comments: a huge whisky in a little bottle (wasn’t that too easy, S.?)

Words of Whisky (92)