Port Ellen 25 Years Old 1982 Cask #2851 (BB&R)

This Port Ellen was from the independent bottler Berry Bros & Rudd, a 25 year old from 1982, drawn from cask 2851 and bottled at 55.6%. Port Ellen was dating to 1825 on the windswept south of Islay and shut by DCL in 1983. A new Port Ellen opened in 2024, while bottles like this remain from the old.

Heavily peated malt, kilned over Islay peat, set the smoky tone and distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs, to give a maritime, citrus edged smoke quite its own. Refill ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, the wood Port Ellen is most often found in. At this age the smoke turns gentle and oily, the spirit deep, briny and refined. Port Ellen was matured largely in refill casks, which sharpen the smoke and leave the malt a touch austere. Smoke, salt and citrus mark it out from its Islay neighbours. Each bottling is a finite draw on a stock that ended in 1983.

At a natural 55.6% it is powerful and oily. A refined peat reek runs over a waxy, briny lift, with soft coconut and vanilla from the oak. The texture is oily and coating, the smoke threaded with sea salt. The close is slow, soft peat over wax. This is a vanishing dram from Islay's most storied closed distillery.