Port Askaig 33 Single Cask [Road to #1000, Review #989]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been lucky enough to taste a bunch of the Port Askaig range; 15, 16, 19, 28, 30 & 45. Most of which have been Caol Ila or Bunnahabhain.

The Importer of Port Askaig to the USA is ImpEx Beverages and this sample is another one I have to thank them for, specifically Jared Card. Thanks buddy!

There was also a 25yo from a batch of casks, which I was lucky enough to taste but didn’t make notes. I thought that one was a Laphroaig.

This on the other hand is a single cask, presented in one of those big sturdy wooden boxes that we love to pay for…

Port Askaig 33 Single Cask 50.3%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Interesting, complex nose with a lot of different facets. Soft salty smoke, soft fruit and oils, white pepper, white florals, faint smoked meat, interesting moss and a minty note-spearmint. More leathery as it opens up.

Taste: Soft and complex, great arrival, great mouthfeel on silky oils, smoke then salty with lemon juice, white pepper, white florals, white peach then darker into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Delicious. More overtly peaty with malt and some leather, a bit minty at the end. A little dry here.

American exclusive single cask. This is an expensive whisky (doesn’t come into my scoring but it’s worth mentioning) and although it is interesting and complex, there has also been something lost. Don’t get me wrong, this is great whisky but I think I was expecting more from it.

84/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #827

Whisky Network Review #989

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Old Pulteney 25 & 1983 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Old Pulteney redid their range a little while ago and because I’m not a professional whisky blogger, plus lazy, I haven’t gotten round to reviewing the new range. Yeah, perhaps more the lazy part…

Anyway, I still haven’t got round to reviewing the new range but I did find time to taste some of the new upper tier versions, namely the new 25yo and the 1983 vintage. I got hold of these at a recent whisky festival in Belgium.

Old Pulteney 25 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Soft and tropical, salty and waxy, mango and oak, orange and grape, subtle grassiness, some green and red apples, some florals. Pleasant nose but not that impressive for OP. After time there is a little flatter note of cardboard.

Taste: Soft and light, orange and then more waxy and oily, more grape, red apple, some ginger and apple juice, a little flat in places, little of the classic OP saltiness.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Goes very soft (save the jokes...), with some malt and a little milk chocolate- praline.

A disappointing Pulteney that wasn't perhaps from the best casks. Much preferred the 17 and 21 to this. Disappointed with the lack of salt and waxiness, especially on the finish. Oh, and where’s the cutting lemon citrus? And the fresh tropical fruits?

72/100

 

Old Pulteney 1983 46%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Clynelish? Super waxy and oily, freshly cut red and yellow apples, complex oak, sea air, delicate dry honey, beeswax and honeycomb, lovely old complex nose.

Taste: Soft and sweet, honeycomb and apple then very dry, lots of oak, slightly grassy but also quite flat in places, orange, some chocolate and a little malt.

Finish: Short length. Its gone! A bit of orange, some chocolate.

33yo. A nice nose doesn't save this one from being a little mediocre. I would be more than a little disappointed if I’d paid the money for this. Pulteney is such good whisky, as the nose on this suggests, but the taste and finish are just too flat to ignore. And once again, the tropical, citrus, salty, waxy loveliness, at what point did they kill that off?

71/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #756-#757

Whisky Network Reviews #898-#899

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

2x Tobermory 1972 IB Reviews

Hi everyone,

So I’ve recently been at two festivals with some awesome whisky. First was Whisky in Leiden where I tasted this first Tobermory 1972, I then tasted another one in Limburg the other day. Tasting it, I thought ‘I bet this is a sister cask,’ and as it turned out it was distilled on the same day!

At that point in Tobermory/Ledaig history the distillery was still called Ledaig and it had just been brought back from being closed for 42 years.

Tobermory 1972 Alembic 49.6%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Full rich old school Sherry, deep perfume, slightly earthy with mud, lovely floral notes, really complex, slight medicinal note, cinnamon and raisins. AMAZING nose.

Taste: So soft, sweet Sherry, rich fruit, fig, honey, beeswax, orange peel, floral then a little soapy, the mouthfeel is a bit off too. Oak in there as well. Time in the mouth is what it needs to reveal its full complexity.

Finish: Long length. Agh, soapy with the Sherry trying and failing to pull it up. Very late it succeeds with the help of a medicinal twang. More earthy then as it opens up.

Many thanks go to Bram of the whisky nerds bottler for this sample from a little 20cl bottle bottled in 2006 at 33yo. The soap does tone down after a bit but old Tobermory/Ledaig was always known to be hit or miss with many misses and few hits!

85/100

 

Tobermory 1972 Whisky Doris 49.4%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Deep and rich, a soapy note like 'love hearts,' parma violets, dark prune and fig, raspberry, sticky sweet, coffee beans, black cherry.

Taste: So soft then builds waves of sweetness and old oak, black coffee, stewed raisin, prune, rich spices then drier into the finish. Mouthfeel is a bit off again.

Finish: Long length. Black dark oak and chocolate notes, black coffee.

Bottled 35yo. With water the nose opens up and you get more Sherry but the taste becomes more soapy.

82/100

Distillery: Tobermory

Average Score: 80.0

Distillery Ranking: 9th/ 61 places

Up/Down: Down 1 (8>9)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #614-#615

Whisky Network Reviews #728-#729

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Port Ellen 33 Batch 6 TBWC Review [London has Fallen]

Hi everyone,

This is the third PE I’ve tried so far, and I’ve gotta say, the stuffs pretty great.

Of course, stocks are low and the barrels left are getting older and older, making them more and more expensive every year.

Except Diageo had a master plan… to do it all again! I’m going to leave that alone for the moment though.

 

Port Ellen 33 TBWC Batch 6 47.5%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Great of course. Classic old PE smoke, incredible green olive and anchovy note, leather, dusty lemon, quite austere. Soot. Old Ardbeg-esque.

Taste: Amazing arrival, incredible development. Waves of complexity, great old Ardbeggian-esque smoke. Sharp complex grapefruit and lime. Chocolate and leather.

Finish: Long length. Amazing. Emotional. Really nice oils coat the mouth. Mouth watering then starts.

Even better than Batch 5, but double the price. Just fantastic balance, complexity and power.

91/100

Two 91’s in as many weeks, which is pretty cool! Not often I score stuff that high.

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #477

Whisky Network Review #544

Network Average: 74.3

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?