Port Ellen 21 Years Old 1976 Very Limited Edition (Samaroli)

This is a Port Ellen single malt, chosen and bottled by Samaroli at 21 year old, from 1976 and bottled at 45%. Just 360 bottles were filled. Port Ellen was dating to 1825 on the windswept south of Islay and shut by DCL in 1983. The Port Ellen maltings survived the closure and still supply Islay.

Islay peat dried the malt, lending the spirit its coastal smoke, 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. By this age the peat has begun to soften, settling into the oak and the brine. The peat phenols fade only slowly, which is why even very old Port Ellen keeps its smoke. Each bottling is a finite draw on a stock that ended in 1983. The old warehouses still hold the last of the closed era spirit.

At an easy 45% it is gentle and briny. Light oak sweetness underneath, 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 a vanishing dram from Islay's most storied closed distillery.