Port Ellen 14 Years Old 1982 Cask #2572 (Wilson & Morgan)

Bottled by Wilson & Morgan, this Port Ellen at 14 year old, from 1982, drawn from cask 2572 and bottled at 43%. Opened in 1825 on Islay's rocky southern seaboard, Port Ellen was mothballed for good in 1983. A new Port Ellen opened in 2024, while bottles like this remain from the old.

The barley was kilned over peat to around thirty five phenol parts per million and worked through copper pot stills by the sea, to lend the elegant, lightly medicinal smoke of the south shore. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, the classic wood for Port Ellen. At this age the smoke is still bright and forward, the spirit lively. Years by the Atlantic give the malt its briny, oily weight. 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.

At an approachable 43% it is refined. A gently medicinal smoke runs over lemon peel and sea brine, with a light vanilla from the refill oak. The mouthfeel is oily, the smoke carried on a waxy body. Embers and sea salt see out a long finish. This is stock from the legendary closed era, ever scarcer.