Port Ellen Port Ellen Maltings

This official Port Ellen single malt, a 21 year old and bottled at 58.4%. Port Ellen was first founded in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay and closed in 1983 and long mourned. Its whisky grew into a legend after closure.

Peat smoke from Islay's bogs dried the malt to its smoky pitch, made in onion shaped stills on soft Islay water, for a peat reek tempered by salt and citrus. An American oak cask shaped it, lending only a light sweetness under the smoke. By this age the peat has begun to soften, settling into the oak and the brine. Time in the cask rounds the spirit, the smoke settling into a soft, waxy depth. The spirit breathed sea air through long maturation on the island. Walter Frederick Campbell laid out the village of Port Ellen in 1821. John Ramsay developed the distillery through the middle of the 19th century. The drum maltings built in 1973 still turn out barley for Islay today.

At a hearty 58.4% it carries real weight. A coastal peat smoke carries salted citrus and a soft wax, with soft vanilla and a touch of coconut from the cask. Soft embers and brine sit behind the smoke. It closes long, smoky and maritime. This is a finite pour from Islay's most mourned distillery.