...where distraction is the main attraction.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Bea's Birthday Booze: Port Ellen 25 year old 1982 Signatory, cask 2846


My baby Beatrice turned SEVEN years old on Sunday. I can't fully process that reality through any of the dusty chambers in my frontal lobe. When I watch her hurry up the concrete steps into her elementary school, smiling at someone inside the building, lugging her backpack packed solid with the many provisions of a child of divorce, skirt hem bouncing around her pale knees, only then do I realize this is 2024. Outside of that moment, I only seem to live in some detached zone where the years merge, my body increasingly fights against breaking stasis, my hearing worsens, and my tolerance for nonsense lessens.

So here's some Port Ellen, because things change.

Distillery: Port Ellen
Ownership: Diageo
Region: Port Ellen, Islay
Bottler: Signatory Vintage
Age: 25 years old (11 Nov 1982 - 16 May 2008)
Maturation: refill sherry butt
Cask number: 2846
Outturn: 234 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 59.3%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

No one makes noses like this anymore. Mesquite-smoked pork and almonds. Kiln chimneys. Nocino, cloves, and blood oranges. Frangelico and mint chip ice cream. Hints of menthol and nut roast. The palate starts with jute rope, tar, black walnuts, and herbal bitterness. Luxardo cherries, grapefruit juice, mint, and peated mango arrive later. The long finish offers heavy smoke, mango juice, honey, and a bright bitterness.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1¾ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Limes and lemons push the kiln smoke back a bit in the nose. Ocean air and a hint of milky chocolate appear next, followed by pipe tobacco, pipe smoke, and almond butter. The palate has a pristine mix of bitterness (wormwood and coffee) and juices (mango and blood orange), with quiet touches of hazelnuts and mint leaf in the background. The finish holds onto those blood oranges, hazelnuts, and wormwood bitterness, with a little more smoke arising.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Stellar. Though the angels enjoyed this cask, consuming more than two-thirds of its contents in 25 years, they left behind la crème. The vibrancy of the nose and palate nearly overwhelms, whether the whisky is served neatly or not. It's gorgeous stuff, best enjoyed slowly, though the temptation to consume it all is difficult to silence. (If you doubt my superlatives, check out this fellow's review; he's had a few more PEs than I.) Now, onto more old whisky...

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - 🤐
Rating - 92

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