Port Ellen 17th Release

This official Port Ellen single malt, a 37 year old Islay malt, from 1979 and bottled at 51%. A release of 2988 bottles. The legendary Port Ellen, established in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay, was closed in 1983 and long mourned. Its reputation only grew as the casks ran down.

The barley was heavily peated, dried over smoke from Islay's own peat, made in onion shaped stills on soft Islay water, for a peat reek tempered by salt and citrus. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood holding back so the peat speaks. At such an age the peat is soft and distant, the malt waxy, oily and profound. Time in the cask rounds the spirit, the smoke settling into a soft, waxy depth. 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 a full 51% it is concentrated and oily. A smoky, mineral note carries maritime salt and citrus, with a whisper of coconut from the cask. Beneath the peat run lemon, wax and a mineral note. Salt, smoke and wax draw out the close. This is a rare survivor of the 1983 closure.