Port Ellen 18 Years Old 1981 (Connoisseurs Choice)

Gordon & MacPhail selected this Port Ellen, an 18 year old from 1981 and bottled at 40%. Port Ellen was first founded in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay and 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. An ex-Bourbon cask shaped it, soft refill oak that lets the smoke lead. Two decades let the phenols ease into a rounded, coastal smoke. Coastal warehousing lends a saline, maritime note as the spirit breathes by the sea. The 2024 revival rebuilt the stills, but casks like this remain from the original distillery. Few lost distilleries are mourned as deeply, or bottled as devotedly, as Port Ellen. The refined, citric smoke set it apart from its more medicinal Islay neighbours.

Bottled at 40%, it is rounded. 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 finite pour from Islay's most mourned distillery.