Port Askaig 17 Year Old

Sukhinder Singh, the man behind the famous London retailer The Whisky Exchange, also founded the independent bottler Specialty Drinks Ltd. You know them well, for they are the company that came up with the beautiful Elements of Islay-series. Well, it's that same company that also bottled this single malt from Islay.

Port Askaig is not a distillery. But the village on Islay of the same name does have a distillery: Caol Ila. So rest assured that this Port Askaig is 100% Caol Ila in disguise. It is bottled at 45,8% which is not cask strength. It's Imperial 80 Proof (which is also what Talisker uses). Port Askaig was first introduced around April 2009.

On the nose, two typical coastal aromas dominate: peat and lime. Underneath I get hints of smoke, hay, honey, beeswax, burning wood. Nice, but rather aloof and light.

It's quite oily on the palate with the peat coming out to play, immediately followed by the lime. More powerful than the nose would make you expect and definitely not in need of any water. At the back of the tongue, right before I let it go down, I get pepper and light tar. And it gets quite briny.

The finish is a confirmation of the taste (salt & tar) and lasts for quite a while.

This is a very enjoyable Islay malt. A damn good Caol Ila.

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