Port Ellen 20 Years Old 1982 Cask #DMG 3029 (Douglas McGibbon)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Douglas McGibbon bottling, aged 20 year old, from 1982, drawn from cask DMG 3029 and bottled at 46%. Established in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, Port Ellen was shut by DCL in 1983. The Port Ellen maltings survived the closure and still supply Islay.

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. Maturation in Oloroso sherry laid smoked dried fruit over the peat. Around two decades in oak knit the smoke with the wood into a maritime, citrus edged malt. Long, cool maturation in Islay warehouses lets the smoke knit slowly with the oak. Few lost distilleries are mourned as deeply, or bottled as devotedly, as Port Ellen.

At 46% it is smooth and elegant. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and a light vanilla from the refill oak, while a graceful Islay smoke carries oily lemon, brine and a lanolin wax. It is elegant and deep, the peat folded into the malt. The finish smoulders gently, oily and long. This is stock from the legendary closed era, ever scarcer.