Port Ellen 25 Years Old 1975 Cask #154 + 156 (Signatory)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Signatory Vintage bottling matured to 25 year old, from 1975, drawn from cask 154 + 156 and bottled at 43%. The outturn was 650 bottles. Port Ellen, founded in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, was shut by DCL in 1983. Annual Special Releases through Diageo sealed its mythic status.

The malt was peated hard over Islay peat cut from Duich Moss, giving a coastal smoke threaded with lemon. The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon American oak, gentle wood beneath the peat. Well past twenty years the peat has mellowed to soft embers, the malt grown waxy and elegant. The peat phenols fade only slowly, which is why even very old Port Ellen keeps its smoke. Smoke, salt and citrus mark it out from its Islay neighbours. Each bottling is a finite draw on a stock that ended in 1983.

At an approachable 43% it is refined. Soft coconut and vanilla from the oak, while a graceful Islay smoke carries brine, wax and a mineral edge. A lanolin wax and a coastal salinity give it real weight. The finish smoulders gently, oily and long. This is a piece of Islay legend in the glass.