Port Ellen 1982 Cask #MOS-PS002 (Malts of Scotland)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Malts of Scotland bottling from 1982, drawn from cask MOS-PS002 and bottled at 58.1%. The outturn was 169 bottles. The legendary Port Ellen, opened in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, was shut by DCL in 1983. Annual Special Releases through Diageo sealed its mythic status.

The malt was peated hard over Islay peat cut from Duich Moss, giving a coastal smoke threaded with lemon. The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs. An Oloroso sherry cask wrapped the smoke in dried fruit and a nutty depth. With no age statement, it shows the smoke well integrated and the spirit rounded. The peat phenols fade only slowly, which is why even very old Port Ellen keeps its smoke. Salt air off the Atlantic worked into the casks through long island maturation.

At a natural 58.1% it is powerful and oily. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and a gentle vanilla note, while a refined peat reek carries brine, wax and a mineral edge. A lanolin wax and a coastal salinity give it real weight. The close is slow, soft peat over wax. This is one of the great ghost whiskies of Islay.