Origin: Isle of Islay (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 59.4%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon first flll and refill
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Elixir Distillers
Average price: € 80.00
Official website: www.portaskaig.com
Vote: 83/100
Part of the restyling of the entire line of this independent bottling from a very mysterious and completely unidentifiable distillery on Islay, which was released in late 2023 in this first version that will probably be followed by a second one in a few months.
No more than sixty casks make up each batch, in this case one quarter are ex-bourbon refill barrels, and three quarters hogsheads also ex-bourbon refills. Age, of course, not stated.
Tasting notes
The nose offers everything you would expect: sizzling seafood and seaweed barbecue, burning wood, grilled fruit (pineapple, mango, apple, apricot), spices (nutmeg, cloves), a touch of herbs (rosemary, thyme), Catalan cream, burnt pastry. Almond paste and candied orange, with a vein of brine along the length. Quite straightforward.
In the mouth, it brings citrus fruits (blood and candied orange, kumquats) to the foreground with aromatic herbs, the coastal part becomes a salty, smoky frame for sweet (custard, apricot tart) and sugary tones (honey caramel, pineapple gelée) with a sprinkling of spices (ginger, cloves, aniseed). Vegetal and woody peat, rather dry in length with mineral brush strokes.
Quite long finish of spices, citrus, sweet smoke, burnt pastry.
It neither surprises nor would like to (or could), a dram without peaks and with a few falls due to a marked sweetness, but all in all pleasant even considering the alcohol content which is not at all impactful.