Port Ellen 24 Years Old 1978 Cask #02/159/2 (Signatory)

This Port Ellen was from the independent bottler Signatory Vintage, a 24 year old from 1978, drawn from cask 02/159/2 and bottled at 59.3%. Only 792 bottles were released. The legendary Port Ellen, opened in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, was shut by DCL in 1983. The distillery was reborn in 2024, but these casks date from its legendary years.

Heavily peated malt, kilned over Islay peat, set the smoky tone and distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs, to give a maritime, citrus edged smoke quite its own. Maturation in a wine cask lent red fruit and spice to the peat. 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.

Undiluted at 59.3%, it is deep and smoky. The Port cask adds smoked plum and red berry, and a refined peat reek runs over a waxy, briny lift, with a gentle vanilla note. The texture is oily and coating, the smoke threaded with sea salt. The close is slow, soft peat over wax. This is one of the great ghost whiskies of Islay.