Port Ellen 23 Years Old 1979 Cask #5538 (Wilson & Morgan)

This is a Port Ellen single malt, chosen and bottled by Wilson & Morgan, aged 23 year old, from 1979, drawn from cask 5538 and bottled at 46%. Port Ellen was founded in 1825 on Islay's rocky southern seaboard and mothballed for good in 1983. The Port Ellen maltings survived the closure and still supply Islay.

Islay peat dried the malt, lending the spirit its coastal smoke, for a smoke more graceful than its Islay neighbours. The spirit was worked through copper pot stills by the sea. A refill American oak cask held it, keeping the distillery character to the fore. Long ageing leaves a mellow smoke, a lanolin wax and a maritime depth. 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. The refined, citric smoke set it apart from its more medicinal Islay neighbours.

At 46% it is supple and elegant. Light oak sweetness underneath, while a briny peat smoke carries oily lemon, brine and a lanolin wax. It is elegant and deep, the peat folded into the malt. Deep and elegant, the smoke lingers long. This is a vanishing dram from Islay's most storied closed distillery.