Port Ellen 19 Years Old 1980 Spirit of Scotland (G&M)

Bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, this Port Ellen, a 19 year old Islay malt, from 1980 and bottled at 40%. The legendary Port Ellen, opened in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, was shut by DCL in 1983. Diageo reopened the distillery in 2024, though stock like this comes from the original era.

The barley was kilned over peat to around thirty five phenol parts per million and distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs, to give a maritime, citrus edged smoke quite its own. An American oak cask shaped it, lending only a light sweetness under the smoke. Two decades let the phenols ease into a rounded, coastal smoke. Years by the Atlantic give the malt its briny, oily weight. Diageo invested heavily to raise the distillery again two centuries on. Long island ageing lends a saline thread to the deep smoke. The closed years only deepened the legend around the malt.

Reduced to 40%, it is mellow. An elegant, structured smoke runs over a waxy, briny lift, with a gentle vanilla note. The texture is oily and coating, the smoke threaded with sea salt. The finish runs oily, saline and slow. This is one of the great ghost whiskies of Islay.