This is the 50th post on my blog. For special occasions, there’s always…
Port Ellen. The Norse Cask Selection is a brand of the Danish  importer and distributor Quality World. In december 2007, they bottled a hogshead cask of 1979 Port Ellen. It was sold for just € 120.

Port Ellen 28y 1979 (53,7%, Norse Cask Selection 2007, Cask QW1311, 277 btl.)

Nose: very typical, wonderful Port Ellen smell. Needs of bit of hand warmth to open up but after that, it just keeps going. Wet stones, salt, lemon skin, ash, lots of smoke, seaweed, vanilla, mint… Wonderfully complex and clean at the same time. Some green leaves and grassy notes, with a medicinal touch. I’ve spent 45 minutes just nosing this, really excellent. Mouth: sweet and fruity attack but heavily peated at the same time. Pine wood, pepper. Chocolate. The aftertaste shows salty liquorice notes and lime, leaving behind some coal smoke and pepper as well.

Overall great balance between sweet, grassy, salty and peaty flavours. Terrific. A shame that I only had a small sample, every drop was more evidence for its genius!

Score: 93/100.