Port Askaig 110 Proof

young, peat

nice balance. not super peat

Light and clear in color. Aroma of butter and caramel is very inviting. Initial taste is peppery and has a nice bite. Finish is medium and has a lingering caramel taste. Medium smoke overall. Hints of salt are available if you should seek out the flavor in the sip. Overall good.

Caramel. Peaty

aggressive. sandy.

PRICE: $60-80. INFO: Single malt scotch whisky from Islay. Port Askaig is not a distillery. The contents are officially from an undisclosed distillery, but they are widely known to bottle Caol Ila, which is located only 1 mile away. This 110-proof is NAS, and bottled cask-strength at 55% ABV. It is exclusive to the U.S., the first Port Askaig to be distributed in the U.S., and is the American version of the 100-proof, which is actually higher ABV (57.1%) because it uses the British proofing system. NOSE: 87/100. Lard. This smells like what’s left in the pan after you fry up some fatty uncured ham. Such a good smell, but a bit one-dimensional. I have not had young Caol Ila in a long time, and forgot how savory it can smell. Missing here is the lemon zest of the 12 year old to balance things out. If you add water – and this can take quite a bit of water – you get more iodoform gauze coming out than citrus. PALATE: 83/100. Oily, waxy, and medicinal at the beginning. It’s a smooth, mouth-coating feel with no burn, which is surprising for a young cask-strength scotch. There’s these distracting off-the-wall flavors that remind you “I was only an infant when they sold me!” They pop in-and-out like quantum anomalies: green pond water in the summer, soap, uncooked plantain, and used Band-Aids. Fortunately, they don’t stick around. Paired with some lamb or Char Siu pork, this works well. This is missing meat flavor, and sets the palate up for something meaty, smoky, and well-seasoned. FINISH: 85/100. Decent finish. A lot of smoke, which probably masks a lot of the imperfections of being a young whisky. Some vanilla and lemons emerge at last. If you add water, the vanilla and lemons appear sooner in the mid-palate. Where are the spices? Man, this stuff must be YOUNG. OVERALL: This is not bad at all. Old Caol Ila (>20 years) is awesome; among the independent bottlings I've tried at least, it’s better than Port Ellen. This is a reminder that a young, moderately peated, cask strength, non-chill-filtered, non-colored Caol Ila also deserves some respect. My polite gripe to Port Askaig is this: put the fucking age on the bottle, man! It’s 3 years? So what. They’ve done everything to appeal to the enthusiast except to just be confident and say, “Age ‘aint nothing but a number.” Put. The. Damned. Age. On. The. Bottle. MARK: 85/100. VALUE FOR MONEY: Tough call at $60. Definitely wouldn’t go higher. Side-by-side at $60 with a Caol Ila 12 year old, I’m picking the 12 year old.