Fortnum and Mason Port Ellen

Posted on 2004/11/22 22:25:33 (November 2004) by john.

Another couple of whisky purchases.

Fortnum and Mason Port Ellen 21 Year Old. The previous, slightly disappointing bottle of Port Ellen I purchased (see here) did not seem to deter my fascination with this closed distillery. For a while I'd had my eye on a limited edition Fortnum and Mason bottling. So naturally when I just happened to find myself in the department store the other day I couldn't resist the temptation. This bottle is worlds apart from the last one, and I'm extremely pleased with it to the extent that I would probably identify it as my favourite malt currently residing in my collection. Given the colour, and the nose, there is obviously a heavy sherry finish, but this has done nothing to dent the strong Islay character that lies beneath. The nose has hints of varnish, is quite peaty, and for want of a better word is sort of "chunky". On each sip I am greeted with strong peat which gives a rich earthiness bordering on meaty. It remains rich and earthy throughout, with plenty of Islay notes - a hint of the sea, and plenty of peat. This is a celebration of everything that is great about Islay and helps to highlight what a tragedy it is that the Port Ellen distillery will never churn out another great malt like this again.


Bruichladdich 15 Year Old (SMWS) Upon joining the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, I was sent this introductory bottle with which I was rather pleased. I hadn't expressed any particular preference on my application form, and yet they somehow knew I'd want an Islay malt, and so I got this rather unusual bottle of Bruichladdich. The descriptive phrase on the bottle is "banana cream" and in all honesty I can't find a better way to describe the rather bizarre flavour of this particular specimen. I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to rank it among my favourites, but undeniably it is interesting, which counts for a lot.

Cool, how many are you up to now, mate?

Posted by Rob Lang at 2004/11/24 14:34:14.

Errr somewhere around the 15 mark, as, of course, every now and again I finish one off, so the numbers can occasionally go down as well as up.

Posted by John at 2004/11/24 15:37:57.

Don't. I'm hungover.

Posted by tom at 2004/11/25 11:28:02.

Aww, thanks for the shout out Sabrina. How did you know that if it hadn't been bssteas it would have been an English Bulldog I'd have in my pack? They are wonderful creatures and a little like bssteas their beauty is in their dwarfish characteristics, wrinkles and like to snuffle along (a little like a pig!). My sister who lives in Seattle has a boxer dog which whilst adorable they just don't cut it for me like a bulldog does.

Posted by Roberto at 2012/07/14 09:45:20.

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