Review by: The Muskox
Elixir’s “Port Askaig” brand has sourced from a variety of Islay distilleries, but most of their bottlings, including all of these, are from Caol Ila. I was lucky enough to get to try them all head to head!
Port Askaig 8 Year.
Distillery: Caol Ila
Bottler: Elixir Distillers
Region: Islay
ABV: 45.8%
Age: 8 years
Cask type: Refill American oak casks.
Price: $79 CAD
Color: 0.1, White Wine. Natural Color. Non-Chill Filtered.
Nose: Brash and briny. Plenty of grassy young-ish notes, as well as a lemony and vaguely-lactic tartness. Burning seaweed. Buttery popcorn and chicken soup with dill.
Palate: Light texture. Arrives with tart lemon and lemongrass, as well as a light floral/grassy character and salted wheat crackers. Develops to briny brash peat smoke and charred driftwood.
Finish: Fairly short. Smoky and briny, with lemon juice squeezed onto a beachside campfire.
Possible SMWS bottling name: “Barrel-less seagrass”
Conclusion: An extremely feisty young whisky, too young I think. There’s a nearly-overwhelming tart brashness to this dram, without much complexity behind it. Next to no cask influence at all. I’ve had 8-year-old Caol Ilas that were leagues better than this.
Final Score: 71.
Port Askaig 100 Proof.
Distillery: Caol Ila
Bottler: Elixir Distillers
Region: Islay
ABV: 57.1%. Cask strength.
Age: No age statement.
Cask type: Unknown.
Price: $83 CAD
Color: 0.5, Yellow gold. Natural Color. Non-Chill Filtered.
Nose: Much rounder than the 8 – less briny, but still pretty briny. Deeper citrus notes – orange in addition to the lemon. Caramel and milk chocolate.
With a dribble of water, there’s a dark malty note and tart earthiness.
Palate: Medium-thin texture. Richer here than on the nose – nutty smoke, ham, flamed cedar, and chocolatey malt.
Water bumps up the chocolate and adds brown sugar and cola.
Finish: Medium-long. A nice continuation of the palate, with more rich smoke, nuts, chocolate, salt, and cedar. Some kind of tangy fruit, gooseberry maybe.
Water brings back that cola note.
Possible SMWS bottling name: “Bogside gourmet cupcake shop”
Conclusion: Way better than the 8. An interesting chocolatey-nutty take on young Caol Ila (at least compared to the 8), which is a nice change of pace from the normal bottlings. Improves with water, too. Very good stuff.
Final Score: 83.
Port Askaig 12 Year Autumn Edition 2020.
Distillery: Caol Ila
Bottler: Elixir Distillers
Region: Islay
ABV: 45.8%.
Age: 12 years. Distilled in 2008. Bottled in 2020.
Cask type: A mix of sherry casks and refill American oak hogsheads.
Price: $90 CAD
Color: 0.2, Pale Straw. Natural Color. Non-Chill Filtered.
Nose: There’s the sherry – not overwhelming, but certainly noticeable next to the other two. Candied citrus peels, fresh orange, cloves, and cola, with more of that chocolatey smoke character.
Palate: Much sweeter than the other two. Arrives with wine gums and sherry, developing to spiced notes of star anise, clove, and chocolate. Earthy smoke throughout, with a sulfurous character coming in towards the back.
Finish: Medium. More of that sulfur, along with more earthy smoke and cola.
Possible SMWS bottling name: “Punchbowl buried in a shallow grave”
Conclusion: A fine whisky, but a step down from the 100 Proof. There’s not enough sulfur to ruin the dram, but there’s enough that, for my palate, it’s gone from being a feature to being a flaw. The other notes to go along with it are fine, but not good enough to overcome that.
Final Score: 78.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 
