Port Ellen 11 Years Old 1983 (G&M)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Gordon & MacPhail bottling at 11 year old, from 1983 and bottled at 40%. Port Ellen, first founded in 1825 on Islay's rocky southern seaboard, was mothballed for good 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, for a smoke more graceful than its Islay neighbours. The spirit was worked through copper pot stills by the sea. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood holding back so the peat speaks. Still young, the smoke runs assertive over a crisp spirit. The long sleep concentrates the smoke and builds a lanolin, waxy texture. The closed years only deepened the legend around the malt. A whisky measured now in dwindling casks rather than fresh spirit. 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 40% it is supple and elegant. Soft coconut and vanilla from the oak, while a refined peat reek carries oily lemon, brine and a lanolin wax. It is elegant and deep, the peat folded into the malt. The close is slow, soft peat over wax. This is a piece of Islay legend in the glass.