Port Ellen 26 Years Old 1982 Cask #1515 (Ian Macleod)

Bottled by Ian Macleod, this Port Ellen at 26 year old, from 1982, drawn from cask 1515 and bottled at 57.6%. A release of 222 bottles. Port Ellen, founded in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, was shut by DCL in 1983. The distillery was reborn in 2024, but these casks date from its legendary years.

The barley was kilned over peat to around thirty five phenol parts per million and distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs, to give a maritime, citrus edged smoke quite its own. A refill American oak cask held it, keeping the distillery character to the fore. Decades have eased the peat to a soft reek over beeswax and old oak. Years by the Atlantic give the malt its briny, oily weight. 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. The casks were filled before the stills fell silent in 1983.

At its natural 57.6% it is rich and briny. A refined peat reek runs over a waxy, briny lift, with soft coconut and vanilla from the oak. The texture is oily and coating, the smoke threaded with sea salt. The close is slow, soft peat over wax. This is a piece of Islay legend in the glass.