Port Ellen 15 yo 1969, Sestante
(circa 2009)
What a treat – Port Ellen only reopened in 1967 (closed for good in 1983) and this beautiful bottle comes from a time when the distillery had only been distilling for 2 years. I have not tried a Port Ellen from this early on, and I hope it gives me a good example of the early style as commented on by the whisky literati (whiskyrati?)
We have had a monstrously huge Port Ellen in the form of PE5 which must be from a later distillation period, how will this compare?
Port Ellen 15 yo 1969, for Sestante by Gordon & Macphail, 40%
Nose: It’s a smoky grill, and hot metal. Peat yes but a rooty earthy wet peat. Not a huge whisky, in fact, it’s rather reticent, but balanced. With time: Engine oil, coastal notes of salt crusted lines knotted with seaweed. Calm day at the harbour, still sea water instead of ‘fish’. Also something sweet, but what? Barley sugar? Something both vegetal and sweetly grain-like, could also be a different kind of fruity – I can’t tell! Ok, scalded cream. Aha, old cardboard in there too.
Palette: Quite a light body. Smoky again, and full of minerals/flints. sprinkled with white pepper. Again, well balanced, no overbearing peat here, and there’s something vegetal about the peat. Smoked ham, and turns salty-sweet. That sweet note…
Finish: Medium long, salt water, not exactly drying, but loads of smoke that doesn’t want to blow off anywhere.
Not a huge Port Ellen for sure. It’s 1969 and changes are afoot, a quiet old-time style for days gone by. What it does not have in hugeness, it more than makes up with complexity and balance, a stylistic counterpoint, and we are all the richer for it.
Whiskyrific RSS
- Springbank 32 yo 1966 / 1998 #499 55.1%
- Millburn 36 yo 1969 / 2005 Douglas Laing #DL2152 50% vs Glenburgie 40 yo 1963 / 2003 Signatory #4751 56.4%
- Ben Nevis 23 yo 1996 / 2019 Single Malts of Scotland for the Nectar #536 51.3% vs A Speyside Distillery 32 yo 1989 / 2022 Thompson Bros 51.4%
- Brora 22 yo 1972 / 1995 Rare Malts 61.1% vs Brora 22 yo 1972 / 1995 Rare Malts 58.7%
- Talimburg 19 yo 1986 / 2005 The Whisky Fair #1485 45.9% vs Talisker 20 yo 1981 / 2002 62%
- Caol Ila 12 yo Bulloch Lade for Zenith 43% vs Caol Ila 30 yo 1979 / 2010 Berry Bros #4604/5 55.6%
- Clynelish 29 yo 1965 Whyte & Whyte 52.1%
- Brora 21 yo 1982 / 2003 Signatory #416 58.4% vs Clynelish 27 yo 1982 / 2009 Synch Eli Daily Dram 46%
- Dornoch 5 yo 2017 / 2023 #46 ‘Jasper Broers’ 57.9% vs Shizuoka ‘private cask’ 2017 / 2022 #2017-108 61%
- Clynelish 26 yo 1993 / 2020 Carn Mor #11215 52.7% vs Bowmore 17 yo 2004 /2021 SMWS 3.327 ‘Siren’s Song’ 57.1%
whiskyrific 