I am having fun exploring it now. It's a good whisky - very Islay. Not necessarily better than goto Islay whiskys in the same price range, but if you like that sort of thing you won't be disappointed. The most interesting thing about this whisky is the contrast between the rougher notes and the sweeter notes. On the rough side you have pretty heavy peat with a charcoal bitterness and more discrete ashy taste, there is a definite marine, flinty influence along with leather. But there is also a bready, malty sweetness with some aroma to explore f you look. The taste is not necessarily all that long, and it is young - I hear 7 years for the youngest whisky in it - but it gets around vigorously and interestingly while it lasts and the smoke does persist to a fair degree. It has a certain fatness and sweetness that carries the rambunctiousness - like a good chardonnay will have (it does not taste like chardonnay). I don't think its quite as good as lagavulin 8 if you want to talk young islays, but again it's just another expression, a little more brutal where the lagavulin 8 is arguably more fresh and elegant and if you've been around all the classics then this certainly an worthwhile take, especially due to the particular sweetness ...
@@OakAndAge Yeah very much so - wee beastie is kinda fun but of course not developed so although there are good elements in there it's more of a gimmick to me to let them shout at each other like that :D. It's interesting to drink younger whiskys of quality just to develop the sense of what years will do for a whisky. But this one - very good Islay for it's age with a pretty dramatic arrival. And the smoke does linger nicely ...
@@troytice8354 Great idea - I have actually been working on some ideas for just that kind of video. Any specific questions you'd like me to address in it?
@@OakAndAge How to taste and smell, the whiskey making process (different barrels, stills, etc.) the broad differences between regions and distilleries, that sort of thing.
Great video. Good scoring category format but it would be nice to see a total.score out of 10 or even 100 to allow for easy comparison with other reviewers. That being said I really like the categories. That granularity is quite helpful. Maybe just normalize your final score to be out of 100. 13/15=87. Regardless I am also a huge fan of this whisky and just bought myself a new bottle yesterday for $55 CDN on sale. Sláinte.
Thanks for watching, Greg! It's a fantastic bottle at a fantastic price! As for the scoring, i tried to create a system that would leave a lot of room for subjectivity. Rather than simply saying "I give this 8/10", I could dive into the parameters that led me to score a whiskey the way I do. But the normalization you mention is a solid idea. I'll do that for my reviews from now on. Cheers, and again - thanks so much for watching!
@@OakAndAge sounds good. My wife who hates peated affectionately refers to this brand as Port Ass Keg. I am on a mission to change her mind to call it Port Ask (for another) Keg. Stay tuned. Also I heard in your other video that you are in Calgary. So am I. This bottle is on sale at Highlander right now as is the 8 year. Cheers.
From the 19th century until 1 January 1980, the UK measured alcohol content by proof spirit, defined as spirit with a gravity of 12⁄13 that of water, or 923 kg/m3, and equivalent to 57.15% ABV. The value 57.15% is very close to the fraction 4⁄7 ≈ 0.5714. This led to the definition that 100° proof spirit has an ABV of 4⁄7. From this it follows that, to convert the ABV expressed as a percentage to degrees proof, it is only necessary to multiply the ABV by 7⁄4 . Thus pure 100% alcohol will have 100×(7⁄4) = 175° proof, and a spirit containing 40% ABV will have 40×(7⁄4) = 70° proof.
@@OakAndAge yeah too much math. The 110 degree proof that is made for US markets follows the US definition of proof (double the ABV) but I have asked Port Askaig why the degree sign is in there still. Waiting to hear back.
Good review but wrong. In the USA the proof system is double abv. In the Uk the traditional 100 is 57.15. I could explain but the history ranges from the 1600's . Just google it! They were not really gonna get it wrong!
Yeah, I learned that pretty quickly after I made the video. Unfortunately CZcams doesn't allow video replacements, and I didn't wanna re-upload a brand new version with the edit. Thanks for watching. I appreciate you taking the time to comment
I am having fun exploring it now. It's a good whisky - very Islay. Not necessarily better than goto Islay whiskys in the same price range, but if you like that sort of thing you won't be disappointed. The most interesting thing about this whisky is the contrast between the rougher notes and the sweeter notes. On the rough side you have pretty heavy peat with a charcoal bitterness and more discrete ashy taste, there is a definite marine, flinty influence along with leather. But there is also a bready, malty sweetness with some aroma to explore f you look. The taste is not necessarily all that long, and it is young - I hear 7 years for the youngest whisky in it - but it gets around vigorously and interestingly while it lasts and the smoke does persist to a fair degree. It has a certain fatness and sweetness that carries the rambunctiousness - like a good chardonnay will have (it does not taste like chardonnay). I don't think its quite as good as lagavulin 8 if you want to talk young islays, but again it's just another expression, a little more brutal where the lagavulin 8 is arguably more fresh and elegant and if you've been around all the classics then this certainly an worthwhile take, especially due to the particular sweetness ...
Totally agree. Its so complex for its age. Particularly compared to, say, Ardbeg Wee Beastie. Just such an amazing bottle
@@OakAndAge Yeah very much so - wee beastie is kinda fun but of course not developed so although there are good elements in there it's more of a gimmick to me to let them shout at each other like that :D. It's interesting to drink younger whiskys of quality just to develop the sense of what years will do for a whisky. But this one - very good Islay for it's age with a pretty dramatic arrival. And the smoke does linger nicely ...
Love it, Alain! Can't wait for more!
excellent review , enjoy Sir +++
Thanks!!
I like your Ric Flair impression when you tasted it 😄 good review sir 👍
😁Thank you kindly!!
Am a relative newcomer to Whisky and was thinking of picking up this bottle because I LOVE peat. Thanks for the review. I subscribed to your channel.
Also, I like your format. Maybe you could do some tutorial/pointer videos for newcomers.
Thanks, Troy! Peat was what got me into this rabbithole of a whisk(e)y obsession. It's just magical stuff! Thanks for subscribing!
@@troytice8354 Great idea - I have actually been working on some ideas for just that kind of video. Any specific questions you'd like me to address in it?
@@OakAndAge Me too. I never liked hard alcohol but my father-in-law had me try some Laphroaig and it blew my mind.
@@OakAndAge How to taste and smell, the whiskey making process (different barrels, stills, etc.) the broad differences between regions and distilleries, that sort of thing.
Great video. Good scoring category format but it would be nice to see a total.score out of 10 or even 100 to allow for easy comparison with other reviewers. That being said I really like the categories. That granularity is quite helpful. Maybe just normalize your final score to be out of 100. 13/15=87. Regardless I am also a huge fan of this whisky and just bought myself a new bottle yesterday for $55 CDN on sale. Sláinte.
Thanks for watching, Greg! It's a fantastic bottle at a fantastic price! As for the scoring, i tried to create a system that would leave a lot of room for subjectivity. Rather than simply saying "I give this 8/10", I could dive into the parameters that led me to score a whiskey the way I do. But the normalization you mention is a solid idea. I'll do that for my reviews from now on. Cheers, and again - thanks so much for watching!
@@OakAndAge sounds good. My wife who hates peated affectionately refers to this brand as Port Ass Keg. I am on a mission to change her mind to call it Port Ask (for another) Keg. Stay tuned. Also I heard in your other video that you are in Calgary. So am I. This bottle is on sale at Highlander right now as is the 8 year. Cheers.
From the 19th century until 1 January 1980, the UK measured alcohol content by proof spirit, defined as spirit with a gravity of 12⁄13 that of water, or 923 kg/m3, and equivalent to 57.15% ABV.
The value 57.15% is very close to the fraction 4⁄7 ≈ 0.5714. This led to the definition that 100° proof spirit has an ABV of 4⁄7. From this it follows that, to convert the ABV expressed as a percentage to degrees proof, it is only necessary to multiply the ABV by 7⁄4 . Thus pure 100% alcohol will have 100×(7⁄4) = 175° proof, and a spirit containing 40% ABV will have 40×(7⁄4) = 70° proof.
@@gregunrau7031 Interesting! That's a lot of math.
@@OakAndAge yeah too much math. The 110 degree proof that is made for US markets follows the US definition of proof (double the ABV) but I have asked Port Askaig why the degree sign is in there still. Waiting to hear back.
Well done Alain. Great review. My wife gets mad when I drink really strong odour Scotches though. Ha ha. I love that you used the word Maritimey too.
Hey Alain... I’m not a whiskey drinker as you know, but I love your format, very informative and well done. :)
Thanks brother! Much appreciated!
The 100 Proof is "UK number" so the conversion to abv is right.
Thanks! I didnt realize that when I made the video. I'll leave an update in the description!
Good review but wrong. In the USA the proof system is double abv. In the Uk the traditional 100 is 57.15. I could explain but the history ranges from the 1600's . Just google it! They were not really gonna get it wrong!
Yeah, I learned that pretty quickly after I made the video. Unfortunately CZcams doesn't allow video replacements, and I didn't wanna re-upload a brand new version with the edit. Thanks for watching. I appreciate you taking the time to comment