Port Ellen 19 Years Old 1977 Finest (Hart Brothers)

Hart Brothers bottled this Port Ellen single malt, a 19 year old from 1977 and bottled at 43%. Port Ellen was founded in 1825 by the sea on Islay's south shore and silenced in 1983 when Islay had one distillery too many. Its last casks were laid down in 1983, a finite legacy ever since.

Drawn off traditional pot stills fed by the Leorin Lochs, to build a smoke at once oily, briny and refined. Maturation in a refill ex-Bourbon barrel kept the malt lean and smoky. Two decades let the phenols ease into a rounded, coastal smoke. The slow loss of the angel's share, a percent or two each year, has concentrated the liquid over decades. Each Diageo Special Release thinned a stock that could never be replaced. 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.

At an approachable 43% it is refined. Lemon zest and coastal salt ride on a smoky, mineral note, with a whisper of coconut from the cask. It is structured and a touch austere, the refill oak keeping it lean. Salt, smoke and wax draw out the close. This is a finite pour from Islay's most mourned distillery.