We’ve already reviewed the Port Askaig 8 Year Old and now it’s the turn of the big brother; a sherried 15!
Port Askaig is an independent bottler of single malt Islay whisky and this 15 year old Sherry Cask expression is one of the recent additions to the range.
Matured in first-fill Oloroso Sherry casks is a marriage of 1997 and 2001 vintages which bring different characteristics to the vatting.
It’s bottled at 45.8% and our notes are below.
Nose
Fresh nose with booze-soaked raspberries sweet vanilla sponge with honey.
Smoke is present but very subtle, just brings a slight savoriness to balance out the sweet with some earthy notes.
Palate
Roles are reversed in the taste with the peat smoke taking a much more dominant role and the fruit pushed to the background.
Salty, oily charcoal initially with a jaminess emerging with sherry fruit.
Turns slightly dry with lemon peel and green herbs perfume.
Finish
That herbal dryness is replaced by a bitter tobacco note in the back of the throat, although sweetness still retained with vanilla flavours appearing toward the end.
Medium length finish.
Overall
I must admit to being a little disappointed with this Port Askaig expression. It’s not a bad whisky, just not that sherried Islays are generally quite special; and for me this one isn’t.
The nose is good, but the palate feels a bit off-balance with the sherry sweetness being pushed to the background by the dominant peat notes.
Worth a look, but I feel that there are better Port Askaig expressions and definitely better Islay whiskies.
Braw Spirit 