Port Ellen 27 Years Old 1983 Cask #DMG 6101 (Douglas McGibbon)

This Port Ellen was from the independent bottler Douglas McGibbon at 27 year old, from 1983, drawn from cask DMG 6101 and bottled at 46%. Port Ellen, founded in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, was shut by DCL in 1983. The distillery was reborn in 2024, but these casks date from its legendary years.

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. An American oak cask shaped it, lending only a light sweetness under the smoke. Long ageing leaves a mellow smoke, a lanolin wax and a maritime depth. Years by the Atlantic give the malt its briny, oily weight. Diageo invested heavily to raise the distillery again two centuries on. Long island ageing lends a saline thread to the deep smoke. The closed years only deepened the legend around the malt.

At 46% it is balanced and smoky. A refined peat reek runs over lemon peel and sea brine, with soft coconut and vanilla from the oak. The mouthfeel is oily, the smoke carried on a waxy body. The close is slow, soft peat over wax. This is a piece of Islay legend in the glass.