Port Ellen 27 Years Old 1979 Old & Rare The Platinum Selection (Douglas Laing)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Douglas Laing bottling, aged 27 year old, from 1979 and bottled at 57.1%. 258 bottles in all. Opened in 1825 on Islay's rocky southern seaboard, Port Ellen was mothballed for good in 1983. The Port Ellen maltings survived the closure and still supply Islay.

The malt was peated hard over Islay peat cut from Duich Moss, for a smoke more graceful than its Islay neighbours. The spirit was worked through copper pot stills by the sea. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood holding back so the peat speaks. Well past twenty years the peat has mellowed to soft embers, the malt grown waxy and elegant. The long sleep concentrates the smoke and builds a lanolin, waxy texture. The closed years only deepened the legend around the malt. A whisky measured now in dwindling casks rather than fresh spirit. Smoke, salt and citrus mark it out from its Islay neighbours.

At a hearty 57.1% it carries real weight. A light vanilla from the refill oak, while a graceful Islay smoke carries oily lemon, brine and a lanolin wax. It is elegant and deep, the peat folded into the malt. The finish smoulders gently, oily and long. This is stock from the legendary closed era, ever scarcer.