Port Ellen 30 Years Old 1975 Cask #159 (Signatory)

Cask Strength Collection

700ml / 56.9%

Single Malt

$4642

A 30 year old Port Ellen single malt from 1975 released by Signatory Vintage, at 56.9%. Smoky and maritime, with refined peat, salt and citrus. Coastal, oily and refined. From the warehouses by the Port Ellen bay. Peat reek tempered by sea and citrus. A scarce survivor of the 1983 silence. Stock from Port Ellen’s lost years, finite for good.

Only 1 left in stock

Only 1 left

SKU PEL258 Categories Islay, Port Ellen, Scottish Whisky, Whiskey Brand: Port Ellen

Description

This Port Ellen was from the independent bottler Signatory Vintage at 30 year old, from 1975, drawn from cask 159 and bottled at 56.9%. 206 bottles in all. Port Ellen was first founded in 1825 on Islay's southern coast near the village of Port Ellen and closed in 1983 in the whisky downturn. The stills ran once more from 2024, but this whisky predates the revival.

Heavily peated malt, kilned over Islay peat, set the smoky tone and run through copper pot stills on soft island water, for the austere, structured peat the malt is known for. Refill ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, the wood Port Ellen is most often found in. Decades have eased the peat to a soft reek over beeswax and old oak. Decades in oak soften the phenols, turning sharp peat reek into mellow embers. Diageo invested heavily to raise the distillery again two centuries on.

At a natural 56.9% it is powerful and oily. A briny peat smoke runs over a waxy, briny lift, with light oak sweetness underneath. The texture is oily and coating, the smoke threaded with sea salt. Deep and elegant, the smoke lingers long. This is a vanishing dram from Islay's most storied closed distillery.