Port Ellen 18 Years Old 1981 Spirit of Scotland (G&M)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Gordon & MacPhail bottling matured to 18 year old, from 1981 and bottled at 40%. Port Ellen stood on the windswept south of Islay from its founding in 1825 until it was shut by DCL in 1983. The Port Ellen maltings survived the closure and still supply Islay.

The malt was peated hard over Islay peat cut from Duich Moss, giving a coastal smoke threaded with lemon. The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs. Refill ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, the wood Port Ellen is most often found in. Past twenty years the smoke mellows and the oily, waxy texture builds. Long, cool maturation in Islay warehouses lets the smoke knit slowly with the oak. Salt air off the Atlantic worked into the casks through long island maturation. Collectors chase these closed era bottles as some of the most prized in Scotch.

At 40% it is smooth and elegant. Gentle oak vanilla beneath the smoke, while a briny peat smoke carries oily lemon, brine and a lanolin wax. It is elegant and deep, the peat folded into the malt. Deep and elegant, the smoke lingers long. This is prized stock from a distillery reborn only in 2024.