Port Ellen 23 Years Old 1979 Cask #6774 (Signatory)

Bottled by Signatory Vintage, this Port Ellen at 23 year old, from 1979, drawn from cask 6774 and bottled at 56.3%. 359 bottles in all. Port Ellen was dating to 1825 on the windswept south of Islay and shut by DCL in 1983. The stills ran once more from 2024, but this whisky predates the revival.

The barley was kilned over peat to around thirty five phenol parts per million and distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs, to give a maritime, citrus edged smoke quite its own. An Oloroso sherry cask wrapped the smoke in dried fruit and a nutty depth. Decades have eased the peat to a soft reek over beeswax and old oak. Port Ellen was matured largely in refill casks, which sharpen the smoke and leave the malt a touch austere.

At a hearty 56.3% it carries real weight. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and a briny peat smoke runs over lemon peel and sea brine, with light oak sweetness underneath. The mouthfeel is oily, the smoke carried on a waxy body. Deep and elegant, the smoke lingers long. This is a vanishing dram from Islay's most storied closed distillery.