In doing research for this article, I read up on Port Ellen again. It was pleasant reading, to be sure, but there was this curious phenomenon that I observed in my dalliances across the internet.
You see, from the number of times I ran across the term “cult whisky”, I got the distinct impression that the end was nigh. It was used so often that for a fleeting moment, I was tempted to look out the window for falling meteors- just in case.
Five Questions Closer to an Answer
You might have guessed that I didn’t do anything close to confessing my sins, much less repent. However, it did raise an important question in my mind.
Is this new Port Ellen 9 Rogue Casks going to be a cult whisky?
This was followed immediately by:
Wait, what’s the meaning of the term “cult whisky”?
It’s funny how the more a term is bandied about, the more it loses its meaning. It made sense to me that defining the term “cult whisky” was the trick to answering my first question. So that decided, I, in typical fashion, added five common attributes which I observed being brought up during discussions of the cult whiskies:
Must the whisky be expensive?
Nope, I don’t think so. The most expensive whisky ever sold (to my knowledge) was a Macallan 1946, which went under the hammer for a whopping $460,000. The second most expensive: a Glenfiddich 1937, sold for $120,000.
No offence intended to both brands, but I think their following is broader than a cabal of passionate drinkers.
That said, however, many of these cult whiskies do indeed command a hefty price, but I believe that it’s due to supply-and-demand economics. They’re rare enough, and sought after enough, that prices are high. The reasons why are what we’re looking for; price is the symptom, not the cause.
Must the whisky be rare?
I think so. If it weren’t so, it’d be by definition a mainstream whisky.
The age of the whisky doesn’t necessarily indicate cult status either; a younger whisky from a small distillery might still be considered a cult whisky. Look to Springbank for examples of that.
Still, rarity can be due to age. I doubt many distilleries have tonnes of tuns of forty year old whiskies lying around. For one thing, the nature of the angel’s share ensures this; if 2 percent of your casked whisky simply vanishes every year, you tend not to have much left after 40 years. This Port Ellen is indeed a forty year old. It’s about as rare as unicorn blood.
But is that all there is to it? Technically, every single-cask expression would be a rare whisky, but I’m don’t see snaking queues of aficionados lusting over every single one of them.
I could similarly think of some whiskies that are rare now- but are not exactly being coveted by hordes of eager collectors. Think about some old Black Labels from the 70s. I’d wager that few would consider them to be cult whiskies- but the flavours are quite different from what you get from modern Black Labels.
So many distilleries that were opened specifically to make whiskies for blending were closed in the 1980s thanks to the “Whisky Loch”. Their whiskies are hard to come by now, considering that production has ceased.
Fun fact: Port Ellen was one of them, before attaining its cult status. Not all of its peers from that era can claim that.
Must the story of the distillery be particularly interesting?
Like for men and women alike, there is some romanticisation of the dead distillery. Undeniably, there is a marketing element involved. This marketing is linked to the whisky’s rarity- and I agree with the message- there is indeed truth in the idea that when something is irreplaceable, it becomes more precious.
Let’s consider that whiskies from Port Ellen and its relative Brora are considered cult whiskies today, in part due to the fact that they are “dead” distilleries. No more whiskies are coming off those stills (or at least, they were not, for a long while). Diageo itself has slowly staggered their release of Port Ellen stocks over time. The remaining stock is finite and precious. There simply isn’t a lot of it left.
However, let’s pretend that Port Ellen never closed, and that today, the distillery was still producing whiskies meant for blending, like they were in the 70s. I doubt they would be considered to be “cult” whiskies, whatever the quality of the spirit turned out to be. I think that the mystique of this “last chance” is worth something.
But, to my mind, there are other dead distilleries that don’t enjoy the same cult status. Is anyone waxing lyrical about Dallas Dhu, or Glenlochy? Their whiskies still cost a pretty penny, but nothing compared to what a Port Ellen might command.
You might attribute this to Diageo’s smart marketing, but they don’t put guns to our heads and force us to pay top dollar for whisky. Heck, they don’t even run huge spreads in the papers telling people about these whiskies. Yet, curiously, the limited allocations of Port Ellen manage to disappear every year. Be the buyers collectors, speculators, or drinkers, there is demand.
No, I think cult status doesn’t come purely from the distillery’s story or marketing.
How about the story of the whisky itself?
Zooming down to an even smaller scale, the story of this particular whisky itself is quite interesting. The Port Ellen 9 Rogue Casks 40 Year Old is made from whiskies rejected precisely because they were unusual for the distillery – whiskies from the eponymous rogue casks.
These whiskies were distilled in 1979, roughly four years before Port Ellen shut its doors in 1983. As Port Ellen whiskies were mostly destined for blending, consistency was of high priority. These rogue casks contained whiskies that, while having some of the Port Ellen distillery character, also possessed unusual (not “off”) flavours. As they could not be used for their intended purpose at the time, they were set aside for further maturation, in the hopes that the flavours would continue to evolve. A “wait and see” approach.
Well, the long slumber of these rogue whiskies was interrupted when the current master blender Dr Craig Wilson, selected them for this release. Tellingly, this comes after years of the company selling “mainstream” Port Ellen stocks- the rogues certainly had to wait their turn, just as they did in the past.
Not being independently wealthy, I haven’t tasted all that much Port Ellen myself, but the consensus is that the distillery’s whisky is in general, softly peated, with light hay and honey notes.
These are the notes for the casks, courtesy of Diageo:
- American Oak Hogsheads
- CASK 1469 – green, oily, cinnamon, herbal
- CASK 1680 – green, fruity, tropical fruit, vanilla
- CASK 1747 – fruity, leather, tropical fruits, green
- CASK 5176 – clementine, cinnamon, creamy
- European Oak Butts
- CASK 4890 – herbal, floral, green, spicy
- CASK 4913 – cinnamon, fruity, aromatic, leather
- CASK 4914 – herbal, cinnamon, ripe fruit
- CASK 6806 – green, herbal, raisin, confectionery
- CASK 6816 – menthol, medicinal, fruity
These casks don’t even wholly agree with each other, let alone the distillery “average”. How would one blend these into something vaguely coherent?
Another question: if these are so unusual, and so different from the typical Port Ellen character, then is this a Port Ellen only in a technical sense? If this is so different from the typical, then why should I pay top dollar for the Port Ellen name and brand?
Or, is the opposite true, making this the rarest of rare whiskies- chosen ones born under the serendipitous alignment of celestial bodies? There are only 1,380 bottles of these 40 year olds, and not only are none being made at this moment, it might not even be possible to make more, ever.
I think these questions will keep Reddit and whisky forums busy for years. I find the questions intriguing, myself- more intriguing than the answers, perhaps. That said, I don’t think being unusual alone is going to confer cult status on a whisky, though it might enhance its mystique.
Case in point? The “Fishky”, a cask of Laddie that was finished by its German owners in an ex-herring cask. Apparently, it did not taste good. No one’s chasing it today, except out of morbid curiousity.
What about the taste of the whisky?
I’m going to put a controversial hypothesis here and say that the actual taste of the whisky being bought has little to do with its cult status. What’s more important is the perception of how it tastes.
The simple truth is a that many of these cult whiskies never see the insides of Glencairn glasses. They’re often put into pretty, airtight display cases and locked up. Sadly, many of them are also destined to change hands from one investor, or collector, to another. Obviously, they’re never going to taste a drop of it.
However, enough people actually do taste these whiskies that the spirits’ reputations actually do precede them. These lucky fellows tend to be the wealthy, whisky aficionados for whom money is little object, the truly passionate whisky drinkers who pool together for a taste, or some combination of the above. Word spreads. Reputations are made or unmade in large part from these opinions.
In a way, this is a cult.
The circles are small, passionate and often very opinionated. With so few people actually having tasted the whisky, it stands to reason that if a cult whisky’s reputations are to grow, its advocates must be a spirited bunch. Why would they get fired up on average whisky? Taste is, therefore, both of paramount importance to a select group and of little importance to the vast majority!
Now, I don’t claim to be in an inner circle of any sort, but I have tasted a very small amount of the Port Ellen 9 Rogue Casks 40 Year Old.
Tasting Notes: Port Ellen 9 Rogue Casks 40 Year Old
Nose: Tantalising and complex. Rich and inviting. Initial contact of honey, barley and dried hay. They’re followed by a tangy aroma; a heavy dose of stone fruit, mandarin orange. very ripe red apple and chocolate orange. There’s leather and a bit of peat, like a small campfire in the background. It’s soft, and warming, not harsh at all. There’s some green coffee and unripe mango also.
Palate: Sweet and rich, incredibly complex and unusual. Predominantly fruity. Lots of apricot, peaches, green mangos, green papaya, sweet and bitter oranges, candied orange peel. There’s honey, barley, and nut in the middle. Green coffee bean, even some faint capsicum. Going along, I found a soft dusting of dry wood spices and leather. Right at the end, a wisp of smoke. The light peat enhances rather than becomes the flavour.
Finish: Long. fruity with only a light peatiness. Sweet mandarin oranges and marmalade.
Well, I can confidently say that the whisky cults might be on to something. This Port Ellen is pretty damn good on its own merits. It’s bright and energetic, despite 40 years in the casks. It’s also layered with so many different, contrasting tastes that work off and complement each other; none become overpowering. It’s like a universe of flavour was born in my mouth.
Despite having so many elements, the progression of flavour is very smooth; clean crests and falls in intensity and shifts in tastes. At the same time, it’s got a balanced yin-yang. Not one note dominant, a sweetness balanced by a tartness, a honey sweetness worked down by smoke. This is one that has it all; strength, depth and elegance.
So, What Makes a Cult Whisky a Cult Whisky?
Let’s go back and look at the factors again:
- Price
- Rarity
- Story of the distillery
- Story of the whisky bottling
- Taste
Excepting the first, I believe a cult whisky must have elements of all the factors. Now, obviously, this isn’t an academic study, but I can’t think of any cult whisky that does not have all of the above.
What does this bode for the Port Ellen 9 Rogue Casks 40 Year Old? I’m going to make a bold prediction.
This expression will not only be a cult whisky, it will be even more sought after than its siblings. Not only is it the oldest-aged whisky ever released from Port Ellen, its exceptional flavour – in both senses of the word- also allows it to stand out from the rest of its family.
Now, who do I see about joining that Port Ellen cult…
The Port Ellen 9 Rogue Casks 40-Year-Old is available in Singapore at the recommended price of S$10,300. If you’re interested, contact the Diageo Rare and Exceptional Singapore’s private client team at PrivateClientSG@Diageo.com.
If you want to get a second opinion, our friends at Spirited Singapore have also written about the whisky here.
