Port Ellen 16 Years Old 1980 Cask #89/589/45 (First Cask)

First Cask selected this Port Ellen, aged 16 year old, from 1980, drawn from cask 89/589/45 and bottled at 46%. Built in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay, Port Ellen was closed in 1983 and long mourned. Its whisky grew into a legend after closure.

Peat smoke from Islay's bogs dried the malt to its smoky pitch, made in onion shaped stills on soft Islay water, for a peat reek tempered by salt and citrus. Refill ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, the wood Port Ellen is most often found in. Around two decades in oak knit the smoke with the wood into a maritime, citrus edged malt. Coastal warehousing lends a saline, maritime note as the spirit breathes by the sea. The maltings that survived the closure still supply barley across Islay today. Salt air off the Atlantic worked into the casks through long island maturation. Collectors chase these closed era bottles as some of the most prized in Scotch.

At an easy 46% it is gentle and briny. Drifting Islay peat smoke carries maritime salt and citrus, with a thread of vanilla from the bourbon wood. Beneath the peat run lemon, wax and a mineral note. It fades on smoke, citrus and a saline tang. This is spirit from the lost years of Port Ellen, finite for good.