Port Ellen 24 Years Old 1982 Cask #2462 (Bladnoch Forum)

Bladnoch Forum selected this Port Ellen, a 24 year old Islay malt, from 1982, drawn from cask 2462 and bottled at 51.1%. Only 156 bottles were released. The legendary Port Ellen, opened in 1825 on the Kildalton shore of Islay, was brought to a halt in 1983. Its rarity made each bottle a collector's grail.

Peat smoke from Islay's bogs dried the malt to its smoky pitch, distilled in onion shaped copper pot stills on Leorin Lochs water, yielding a clean, mineral smoke with a citric lift. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon American oak, gentle wood beneath the peat. Long ageing leaves a mellow smoke, a lanolin wax and a maritime depth. Coastal warehousing lends a saline, maritime note as the spirit breathes by the sea. Each Diageo Special Release thinned a stock that could never be replaced. The maltings that survived the closure still supply barley across Islay today. Salt air off the Atlantic worked into the casks through long island maturation.

At 51.1%, undiluted, it is bold and smoky. A smoky, mineral note carries salted citrus and a soft wax, with a whisper of coconut from the cask. Soft embers and brine sit behind the smoke. Salt, smoke and wax draw out the close. This is a rare survivor of the 1983 closure.