Port Ellen 25 Years Old 1976 The Old Malt Cask (Douglas Laing)

The Old Malt Cask

700ml / 50%

Single Malt

$1566

This 25 year old Port Ellen from 1976 a Douglas Laing bottling, at 50%. A refined Islay smoke, with coastal peat smoke, lemon and sea brine. Smoky, briny and deeply aged. Drawn from a distillery silent for forty years. The smoke softened by long years in oak. A bottle chased by Islay collectors. Closed in 1983, its casks grow scarcer each year.

Only 2 left in stock

Only 2 left

SKU PEL100 Categories Islay, Port Ellen, Scottish Whisky, Whiskey Brand: Port Ellen

Description

This is a Port Ellen single malt, chosen and bottled by Douglas Laing, aged 25 year old, from 1976 and bottled at 50%. 522 bottles in all. Established in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, Port Ellen was shut by DCL in 1983. Annual Special Releases through Diageo sealed its mythic status.

Islay peat dried the malt, lending the spirit its coastal smoke, giving a coastal smoke threaded with lemon. The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs. Maturation in a refill ex-Bourbon barrel kept the malt lean and smoky. Decades have eased the peat to a soft reek over beeswax and old oak. Long, cool maturation in Islay warehouses lets the smoke knit slowly with the oak. The refined, citric smoke set it apart from its more medicinal Islay neighbours. Laid down before 1983, this is spirit from a distillery that stood silent for forty years.

At a full 50% it is concentrated and oily. A light vanilla from the refill 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 stock from the legendary closed era, ever scarcer.