Port Ellen 28 Years Old 1982 (Connoisseurs Choice)

From Gordon & MacPhail comes this Port Ellen, aged 28 year old, from 1982 and bottled at 43%. Built in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay, Port Ellen was closed in 1983 and long mourned. Most of its make once went to blends, but its single malt became the prize.

Made in onion shaped stills on soft Islay water, building the oily, briny style it is loved for. Maturation in Oloroso sherry laid smoked dried fruit over the peat. Well past twenty years the peat has mellowed to soft embers, the malt grown waxy and elegant. Maturation in old refill casks keeps the distillery character front and centre. The casks were filled before the stills fell silent in 1983. Diageo invested heavily to raise the distillery again two centuries on. Long island ageing lends a saline thread to the deep smoke.

At 43% it is balanced and smoky. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and crystallised lemon and a salty tang ride on drifting Islay peat smoke, with a thread of vanilla from the bourbon wood. A crystallised lemon and a saline tang lift the smoke. It fades on smoke, citrus and a saline tang. This is spirit from the lost years of Port Ellen, finite for good.