Port Ellen 10 Years Old Scottish Wildlife (Signatory)

This is a Port Ellen single malt, chosen and bottled by Signatory Vintage, a 10 year old and bottled at 43%. The legendary Port Ellen, built 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.

Islay peat dried the malt, lending the spirit its coastal smoke, for a smoke more graceful than its Islay neighbours. The spirit was worked through copper pot stills by the sea. An ex-Bourbon hogshead held it, the soft oak letting the Islay character lead. Still young, the smoke runs assertive over a crisp spirit. Long, cool maturation in Islay warehouses lets the smoke knit slowly with the oak. John Ramsay developed the distillery through the middle of the 19th century. The drum maltings built in 1973 still turn out barley for Islay today. Three Islay distilleries proved one too many, and this was the one to close.

At 43% it is smooth and elegant. A gentle vanilla note, 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 one of the great ghost whiskies of Islay.