From one major retailer own brand to another. Today is the turn of Whisky Exchange to show us one of their Islay brands, Port Askaig.
The Brand
The Port Askaig brand is slightly cheeky in that it would be very easy to assume this was a distillery. Port Askaig is a village on the island, it is where the northern ferry port is and where the ferry to Jura leaves from. It is also the location of two distilleries, Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain.
Each expression in the range is labelled a single malt so there is only one distillery in each bottle. There is one thing I am not clear on though and that is if only one distillery has been used across the whole range. I will ask Speciality Drinks and report back to you on this post.
The range currently includes:
- 8 year Old – £39.95
- 100 degrees proof – £44.95
- 15 year old – £74.95
- 16 year old- £79.95
- 19 year old – £99.95
- 25 year old – £225
- 30 year old – £375
- 45 year old – £1200
Each one is natural colour and no filteration making these all high quality products.
The Dram
As the name would suggest this is a strong whisky at 57.1% ABV or UK 100 proof.
Tasting Notes
Colour – white wine
Nose – light subtle peat, citrusy and juicy apples but lighter than the strength might suggest. In time honey and coconut comes through
Palate (no water) – intense alcohol heat and sweet peat.
Palate (water) –now the standard apples and vanilla come out
Finish (no water) – short finish really only giving light smoke
Finish (water) – longer now and sweeter following on exactly like the palate
Final Thoughts
This reminds me of Caol Ila. That light heathery peat seems to be standard Caol Ila to me. This is a great simple peated whisky with bags of flavour. At £45 it is great value and a fun social dram. In the future I hope to pick up the 8 year old and a mid teen expression to really get a feel for the whole range.
I mean… I am 30 in March so maybe their 30 year old bottle is not complete out of the question either. Keep checking malted.blog to find out what happens!
Malted 