Port Ellen 26 Years Old 1978 Cask #DL 1709 (Douglas Laing)

Douglas Laing selected this Port Ellen, aged 26 year old, from 1978, drawn from cask DL 1709 and bottled at 50%. 568 bottles in all. Opened in 1825 by the sea on Islay's south shore, Port Ellen was silenced in 1983 when Islay had one distillery too many. Its dwindling stock became some of the most collectable in Scotch.

Peat smoke from Islay's bogs dried the malt to its smoky pitch, drawn off traditional pot stills fed by the Leorin Lochs, for the refined smoke that made its name. An Oloroso butt held it, sherry and smoke twining together. Decades have eased the peat to a soft reek over beeswax and old oak. Time in the cask rounds the spirit, the smoke settling into a soft, waxy depth. Three Islay distilleries proved one too many, and this was the one to close. Its smoke leans citric and mineral rather than tarry and medicinal.

At its natural 50% it is rich and briny. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and drifting Islay peat smoke carries maritime salt and citrus, with a thread of vanilla from the bourbon wood. Beneath the peat run lemon, wax and a mineral note. It fades on smoke, citrus and a saline tang. This is spirit from the lost years of Port Ellen, finite for good.