Don't get excited, it's not (yet another) new distillery. It's a new independent bottling brand from Douglas Laing. This "inaugural release" is a Speyside single malt of unknown origin.
The details
Distillery: Unknown Speyside
Translation: Portknockie is a small coastal village on the north-west coast of Scotland. Gaelic: Port Chnocaidh - the hilly port
Region: Speyside
Bottler: Douglas Laing
Age: No age statement
Bottle: 70cl, cork top. A good, well-fitting cork.
Number of bottles: Unknown. Mass produced.
ABV: 43%
Cask type: Bourbon barrels, hogshead casks
Barley: Unstated
Yeast: Unstated
Filtered/coloured: Unstated/unstated
Sample date: Sunday 30th January, 2022
Peated/unpeated: Unpeated
Cost: £39.98 delivered.
Availability: Scotch Whisky World
Barcode: 5014218822007
More info: https://www.facebook.com/portknockie/
Whiskybase: TBC
Tasting notes
Eye
To me, this looks like it's had E130 added to enhance the colour.
Nose
For a 43% whisky, this has more bite on the nose than I expected. As the bottle says, there's candied fruit, honey, light caramel and vanilla. The fruit is more orchard than citrus—somewhere between pear and apple. The vanilla is complemented by a touch of almond. The bourbon is there. The honey is there; light, runny honey. And some demerara sugar. There's also a touch of pickle, which I think is being carried by the alcohol. But there's something else hiding underneath that I can't quite work out. Water may bring this note to the surface. Generally, the nose is quite typical speyside. So far, pleasant but unremarkable.
After a touch of water, the fruit comes forward, the prickle disappears, and the whole thing flattens out. The unknown note disappears completely.
SCORE: 12/25
Taste
Arrival is fruit and honey. A little wood influence. Not very spicey. A toffee note appear. There's a nice touch of watermelon as well. Again, fairly unremarkable. The alcohol isn't well integrated. I reached for a glass of water to rinse. I can't remember the last time I had to do that.
After water, it's still a little rough. There's obvious pepper (which one? who cares?). The bourbon influence is still very prominent. Is this just flat spirit with no voice of its own—and everything coming from the cask? The fact that it went flat after a touch of water indicates this might be the case. I suspect a bourbon expert could quite easily tell which brand the cask held.
SCORE: 12/25
Finish
There's a bit of burn on the finish. But that could just be because it's my first dram this evening. There's bitter chocolate, but not too bitter (something around 60% cocoa maybe).
After water: meh.
SCORE: 8/25
Overall
A drinkable Speyside, but I feel this is waaaaay overpriced for something so characterless and mediocre. Would I buy this again? No. There are plenty more exciting better drams to be had for around the £35-40 mark. A £20 Shackleton beats this for drinkability.
SCORE: 11/25
Final verdict
Uninspiring. I'm finding it difficult to say anything else about this. It came in a nice drawstring jute bag. Actually, the bag was fiddly to open. I do quite like the label design.
I'm conflicted on whether some of this should go into my infinity bottle. A thimbleful perhaps? Is it worth removing the cork and letting air in just to add this? No, it's not. It has nothing to add.
This is my lowest review score to date.
TOTAL: 43/100
Comments