Port Ellen 27 Years Old 1983 Cask #DMG 6042 (Douglas McGibbon)

Douglas McGibbon bottled this Port Ellen single malt at 27 year old, from 1983, drawn from cask DMG 6042 and bottled at 46%. Port Ellen, first founded in 1825 by the sea on Islay's south shore, was silenced in 1983 when Islay had one distillery too many. Its last casks were laid down in 1983, a finite legacy ever since.

Drawn off traditional pot stills fed by the Leorin Lochs, to build a smoke at once oily, briny and refined. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, the classic wood for Port Ellen. Well past twenty years the peat has mellowed to soft embers, the malt grown waxy and elegant. The slow loss of the angel's share, a percent or two each year, has concentrated the liquid over decades. The maltings that survived the closure still supply barley across Islay today. Salt air off the Atlantic worked into the casks through long island maturation.

At 46% it is soft, smoky and oily. Lemon zest and coastal salt ride on a coastal peat smoke, with soft vanilla and a touch of coconut from the cask. It is structured and a touch austere, the refill oak keeping it lean. It closes long, smoky and maritime. This is a revered Islay malt from a distillery silent for forty years.