Port Ellen 28 Years Old 1982 Cask #2860 (Scotch Single Malt Circle)

This Port Ellen was from the independent bottler Scotch Single Malt Circle matured to 28 year old, from 1982, drawn from cask 2860 and bottled at 63.6%. Only 452 bottles were released. Port Ellen, first founded in 1825 on Islay's rocky southern seaboard, was mothballed for good in 1983. Port Ellen distilled again from 2024, yet this is spirit from the closed era.

Heavily peated malt, kilned over Islay peat, set the smoky tone and worked through copper pot stills by the sea, to lend the elegant, lightly medicinal smoke of the south shore. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon American oak, gentle wood beneath the peat. Well past twenty years the peat has mellowed to soft embers, the malt grown waxy and elegant. Years by the Atlantic give the malt its briny, oily weight. The peat came from Islay's own Duich Moss, localising the whole character. For years the spirit went quietly into blends before its single malt became a legend.

At a hearty 63.6% it carries real weight. A graceful Islay smoke 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 finish smoulders gently, oily and long. This is a piece of Islay legend in the glass.