Port Ellen 23 Years Old 1979 Cask #6778 (Wilson & Morgan)

A Port Ellen single malt, selected and bottled by Wilson & Morgan at 23 year old, from 1979, drawn from cask 6778 and bottled at 46%. Established in 1825 on the Kildalton shore of Islay, Port Ellen was brought to a halt in 1983. Its whisky grew into a legend after closure.

The barley was heavily peated, dried over smoke from Islay's own peat, distilled in onion shaped copper pot stills on Leorin Lochs water, yielding a clean, mineral smoke with a citric lift. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood holding back so the peat speaks. Well past twenty years the peat has mellowed to soft embers, the malt grown waxy and elegant. Coastal warehousing lends a saline, maritime note as the spirit breathes by the sea. Laid down before 1983, this is spirit from a distillery that stood silent for forty years. Its cult grew with every passing year the warehouses stayed quiet.

At 46% it is smooth and elegant. A smoky, mineral note carries maritime salt and citrus, with a thread of vanilla from the bourbon wood. Beneath the peat run lemon, wax and a mineral note. Salt, smoke and wax draw out the close. This is spirit from the lost years of Port Ellen, finite for good.