Port Ellen 19 Years Old 1982 Cask #DMG 2733 (Douglas McGibbon)

Bottled by Douglas McGibbon, this Port Ellen, a 19 year old Islay malt, from 1982, drawn from cask DMG 2733 and bottled at 43%. The legendary Port Ellen, built in 1825 on Islay's rocky southern seaboard, was mothballed for good 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 worked through copper pot stills by the sea, to lend the elegant, lightly medicinal smoke of the south shore. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon American oak, gentle wood beneath the peat. Past twenty years the smoke mellows and the oily, waxy texture builds. Decades in oak soften the phenols, turning sharp peat reek into mellow embers. The closed era spirit is finite, and every bottle drawn is one fewer left. The spirit breathed sea air through long maturation on the island.

At an approachable 43% it is refined. 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.