Back when I started this blog in 2013, Ellenstown was a not uncommon sight in American liquor stores with non-standard whisky selections. In case you’re more recently arrived at the pursuit of single malt whisky, Ellenstown is not the name of a defunct distillery but a name used for two Islay whiskies brought to the US by CVI Brands, an importer from San Carlos, CA. (I’m not sure if these were released elsewhere in the world as well or if there were releases elsewhere with other age statements.) There were two of these: a 10 yo and a 12 yo. The 10 yo was said to be an Ardbeg and I recall both Ardbeg and Caol Ila being named as likely candidates for the 12 yo. Whether any of this speculation was based on actual knowledge, I don’t know; I would expect that the Ellenstown name would imply one of the distilleries closer to Port Ellen—so Ardbeg, more likely than Caol Ila, but also no reason why it couldn’t be Laphroaig (Lagavulin not being made available usually to indies). At any rate, I remember thinking it likely that the 10 yo was Ardbeg. I certainly saw it more frequently in MN and went through a couple of bottles before the blog got going. My spreadsheet tells me I also tried the 12 yo back in the day but I have no memory of it. Luckily, I did have a bottle on my shelves (along with two of the 10 yo) and so can now open it and take some proper notes. I notice now that the label says it was a single cask release. Was there more than one cask? If you still have a bottle lying around let me know if the rear label has the same barcode number as mine: 7 91774 10388 1. Okay, let’s get to it.

Ellenstown 12 (52%; from my own bottle)

Nose: Sweet peat off the top, with a mix of phenolic and wood smoke. More of the phenols (Dettol) on the second and third sniffs and also more vanilla. A bit of salt comes up from under all that as it sits. With time the vanilla calms down and there’s hints of tart-sweet apples. A few drops of water dial the smoke down a bit and pull out more fruit and salt: are preserved smoked lemons a thing?

Palate: Comes in with more phenolic wallop here and there’s some prickly pepper to go with the sweeter notes. The smoke remains the story on the next few sips, with more coal here than wood. Some pencil lead with more time; with more time still it gets quite tarry and there’s more salt. Okay, let’s see what water does for it. As on the palate, it emphasizes fruit (a mix of lemon and apples) but here it’s not preserved so much as candied.

Finish: Long. The smoke gets ashier here as it goes. More salt here too with time. As on the palate with water.

Comments: Ah, this is very nice. Glad I finally opened the bottle, which has been sitting around on my shelves for more than 12 years. Is it an Ardbeg? A Caol Ila? A Laphroaig? I’d guess Ardbeg but who knows?

Rating: 87 points.