Port Ellen 24 Years Old 1979 Cask #03/332/1 (Signatory)

A Port Ellen single malt, selected and bottled by Signatory Vintage at 24 year old, from 1979, drawn from cask 03/332/1 and bottled at 58.8%. 425 bottles in all. Port Ellen was first founded in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay and closed in 1983 and long mourned. Its dwindling stock became some of the most collectable in Scotch.

The barley was heavily peated, dried over smoke from Islay's own peat, made in onion shaped stills on soft Islay water, for a peat reek tempered by salt and citrus. Maturation in a wine cask lent red fruit and spice to the peat. At this age the smoke turns gentle and oily, the spirit deep, briny and refined. Time in the cask rounds the spirit, the smoke settling into a soft, waxy depth. Walter Frederick Campbell laid out the village of Port Ellen in 1821.

At 58.8%, undiluted, it is bold and smoky. The wine cask lends smoked red berry and spice, and a soft maritime smoke carries maritime salt and citrus, with a whisper of coconut from the cask. Beneath the peat run lemon, wax and a mineral note. A waxy, gently medicinal finish lingers long. This is a finite pour from Islay's most mourned distillery.