Port Ellen 21 Years Old 1983 Cask #2734 (Blackadder)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Blackadder bottling at 21 year old, from 1983, drawn from cask 2734 and bottled at 62.7%. The outturn was 563 bottles. Port Ellen, first founded in 1825 on Islay's rocky southern seaboard, was mothballed for good 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, for a smoke more graceful than its Islay neighbours. The spirit was worked through copper pot stills by the sea. An Oloroso butt held it, sherry and smoke twining together. Past twenty years the smoke mellows and the oily, waxy texture builds. Long, cool maturation in Islay warehouses lets the smoke knit slowly with the oak. The peat came from Islay's own Duich Moss, localising the whole character. For years the spirit went quietly into blends before its single malt became a legend.

Bottled at a cask strength 62.7%, it is intense. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and gentle oak vanilla beneath the smoke, while a briny peat smoke carries brine, wax and a mineral edge. A lanolin wax and a coastal salinity give it real weight. Deep and elegant, the smoke lingers long. This is a piece of Islay legend in the glass.