Port Ellen 19 Years Old 1970 Celtic Label (G&M)

This Port Ellen was from the independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail, aged 19 year old, from 1970 and bottled at 40%. Established in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, Port Ellen was shut by DCL in 1983. Port Ellen distilled again from 2024, yet this is spirit from the closed era.

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. By this age the peat has begun to soften, settling into the oak and the brine. Years by the Atlantic give the malt its briny, oily weight. Three Islay distilleries proved one too many, and this was the one to close. Its smoke leans citric and mineral rather than tarry and medicinal. The casks were filled before the stills fell silent in 1983.

At an approachable 40% it is refined. A graceful Islay smoke runs over lemon peel and sea brine, with a light vanilla from the refill oak. The mouthfeel is oily, the smoke carried on a waxy body. The finish smoulders gently, oily and long. This is stock from the legendary closed era, ever scarcer.