Selected by and bottled exclusively for WorldDutyFree

Tasting notes by Serge Valentin 93/100 (WhiskyFun.com)

Colour: straw.

Nose: starts raw and slightly sour, ‘close to the mash’, with some lemon, yoghurt, fresh almonds and wet rocks. Noses certainly younger than almost 30yo. Oh, and quite some peat of course. Gets pretty cleaner after a few minutes, more on fresh walnuts and marzipan as well as a little camphor. Yes, an improvement! With water: typical high-end Port Ellen, need I say more? Beach under the rain, sheep, wet grass, raw peated barley, the sea… That’s right, Islay.

Mouth (neat): excellent attack, compact, peaty and almondy with quite some lemon as well. Superbly resinous in a certain way, clean, fresh and punchy but starting to get more rounded around the corners. Develops mainly on apple peeling and fresh walnuts. Superb, in fact! No mashy notes whatsoever. Grows more lemony, kind of sharper and zestier after that. Another restless PE. With water: more salt, more pine resin, more lemon marmalade, more walnut liqueur, more fresh putty. Exceptional balance.

Finish: it’s maybe not the longest PE I ever tried but everything is in place. Nutshell: lemon, peat, salt and almonds.

Comments: one of the best Port Ellens I could try this year. It’s a tad slow at the start but then… What a trip indeed.