Port Ellen 27 Years Old 1983 Cask #LD 5996 (Douglas of Drumlanrig)

Bottled by Douglas of Drumlanrig, this Port Ellen matured to 27 year old, from 1983, drawn from cask LD 5996 and bottled at 46%. Only 198 bottles were released. Port Ellen stood on the windswept south of Islay from its founding in 1825 until it was shut by DCL in 1983. The stills ran once more from 2024, but this whisky predates the revival.

The barley was kilned over peat to around thirty five phenol parts per million and distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs, to give a maritime, citrus edged smoke quite its own. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood holding back so the peat speaks. Decades have eased the peat to a soft reek over beeswax and old oak. Years by the Atlantic give the malt its briny, oily weight. The casks were filled before the stills fell silent in 1983. Diageo invested heavily to raise the distillery again two centuries on.

At 46% it is smooth and elegant. A briny peat smoke runs over a waxy, briny lift, with gentle oak vanilla beneath the smoke. The texture is oily and coating, the smoke threaded with sea salt. Deep and elegant, the smoke lingers long. This is prized stock from a distillery reborn only in 2024.