Elements of Islay: Cask Edit
Islay Blended Malt Whisky | 46% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
An excellent value, richly rounded, blended malt Islay whisky
The Last Bastion of Bargains?
Just a few days ago, I hosted an exploration of peated whiskies for three friends. It was a random Thursday and I had forced it into my schedule. Work has been insane for nearly two months, with 50-55 hour weeks as the norm and working in the evening until midnight a few nights every week to barely tread water.
I’m not complaining, but I was feeling a little cooped up and devoid of conversation outside of having pretend tea with my two year old daughter or throwing the football with my five year old. I had reached out to a few friends to see if there was interest in a tasting. One of them had just discovered peated whiskies after many years of low ABV and heavily sherried drams. So, being winter and all, it made sense to dig into the storage nooks for some peated drams. With a date set for an upcoming Thursday, I started to assemble the tasting.
Going through my digital inventory list, I had ‘narrowed’ it down to 25 whiskies. Knowing we couldn’t possible get through all of them with any sense of self or objective ability to decipher nuances, I laboriously whittled that down to 10 whiskies, ranging from a Benromach Triple Distilled, Cu Bogan Signature, Kilkerran Heavily Peated, Kilchoman Loch Gorm, an Inchfad, Port Charlotte 10, Ardbeg Uigeadail, 20 yo Ardmore, 2021 Laphroaig Cairdeas, and finishing with the Octomore 12.3. Right, so 10 it was. Light to heavily peated, double to triple distilled, bourbon to sherry, 46% to 62% ABV range, and mainland vs Islay peat. The contrasts made sense to me, and mixing them up in an alternating pattern to stretch our senses, I thought this was a great lineup.
Armed with two glasses each and a few jugs of water since we all needed to work the next day, we sat down and played six games of cribbage, shot the shit, splashing whisky into glasses, going back and forth, comparing and contrasting, all the while not talking about work, our kids, or anything. Just friends hanging out, playing games, and drinking whisky. Ahh, exactly what the doctor ordered for Broddy, a friend-driven mental health break.
When we came upon the end of the tasting and after splashing healthy pours of the Octomore 12.3 into the glasses, the comment of price came up. It was a resounding comment echoed around the table: whisky was just too darned expensive these days. While they all applauded my frugal only-buy-when-on-sale mantra, the recent pricing of the Octomore and many others was just too much to stomach. And since everything in this world is relative, including what many would perceive as cheap, expensive, or good value, all of us sitting at the table are quite successful professionals. From a high-level, each of us could afford any of the newest releases without needing to sell a pinky or start an Only Fans, but even for them, it was a resounding and unanimous proclamation.
Four hours later, we all departed, warmed from within by the whisky and the good company, and the intro for this review was born.
Review
Elements of Islay, Cask Edit, Blended Islay Malt Whisky, 46% ABV
CAD$60 paid (£35). Usually £46 and widely available
Alright, I was intrigued by the box. According to the “periodic table of whisky” tastefully emblazoned on the box, the three different core ranges from Elements of Islay utilise different Islay distilleries in their batches. Now I could figure out some but I was at a loss for many others.
After an ask to the Dramface team, Wally piped up and offered to reach out to Oliver Chilton. Following a very prompt reply from Oliver, the below abbreviations can allow us to understand what components may be in each. As an additional tidbit, he provided the number of batches that utilised each component across the various batches of Cask Edit, Bourbon Cask, and Sherry Cask core range releases. As seen, Ardbeg, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Lagavulin, and Laphroaig are the most oft used distilleries however for the Cask Edit, it is an approximate even split of refill hoggie Caol Ila to a 75/25 split of 1st fill Bourbon/sherry butt matured Laphroaig, with a smattering of other distilleries sprinkled in for good measure.
So a split blend of Caol Ila and Laphroaig in the Cask Edit, typically in the 7-12 yo range.
Ar (Ardbeg) 11 Batches
Br (Bruichladdich) 7 Batches
Bn (Bunnahabhain) 10 Batches
Bw (Bowmore) 8 Batches
Cl (Caol Ila) 14 Batches
Kh (Kilchoman) 1 Batches
Lg (Lagavulin) 12 Batches
Ln (Bruichladdich – Lochindaal) 2 Batches
Lp (Laphroaig) 12 Batches
Ma (Bunnahabhain – Margadale) 3 Batches
Oc (Bruichladdich – Octomore) 6 Batches
Pe (Port Ellen) 5 Batches
Pl (Bruichladdich - Port Charlotte) 7 Batches
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
An excellent value, richly rounded, blended malt Islay whisky
Nose
More bourbon than sherry influences here. Light, sweet, and citrusy, with a clean whispery spine of smoke holding this together. Slightly cool smelling, with lemons, crisp sea breeze, crushed sea shells with a light touch of vanilla. It smells very refined and full without any harsh prickles.
Palate
Lovely subtle integration of the sherry casks. Gentle on the palate without any harsh notes more commonly associated with younger peated stock. Very interesting.
Rich and vibrant. Initial ashy smoke transforms to slightly astringent/creosote like peat at the end. Throughout, an icing sugar, lemon/lime citrus, and sea shell minerality dashed with some vanilla. Some barrel spice-related notes and deft light touch of salted pecans are found below the more prominent sweet and citrus notes.
Finish is medium length and a pleasing trail-off of smoke and sweet barrel spice.
The Dregs
The 46% ABV strength is perfect for an easy drinking but richly flavoured experience. The sherry casks are not over-bearing, providing some delicate nuances under these well-matured bourbon malts. I’m having a hard time putting this bottle down and I would wager that you would as well. If you like peated whiskies, and balanced ones at that, then this should be sitting on your shelf. I’m very much intrigued to get my hands on the Bourbon cask and Sherry cask releases from Elements of Islay now. Well played Elements of Islay team.
Now for the score. This is a well-rounded and well-deserved 6/10… but with the excellent price point in our crazy markets nowadays it could very much be a 7/10. For me and my market, I’m giving this a full point bump. Yes, I bought this on sale, but you can too with some patience and resisting FOMO. Even at full price, it’s only the same as Ardbeg’s Wee Beastie and still well under all of the other Islay malts, and is much more rounded and balanced to boot.
So there ya have it. If this is priced below other Islay malts in your market, it’s a steal and get it on your shelf ASAP. If it’s in the same price range as Ardbeg 10, Port Charlotte 10, Ardbeg Corrie/Oogie/An Oa, then use your discretion.
However, depending on your preferences, this blended malt can stand toe-to-toe with any of these single malts.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB
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