Port Ellen 28 Years Old 1983 Cask #229 (Feinkost Reifferscheid)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Feinkost Reifferscheid bottling, a 28 year old from 1983, drawn from cask 229 and bottled at 54.3%. A release of 180 bottles. Port Ellen was dating to 1825 on the windswept south of Islay and shut by DCL 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, giving a coastal smoke threaded with lemon. The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, the classic wood for Port Ellen. At this age the smoke turns gentle and oily, the spirit deep, briny and refined. Long, cool maturation in Islay warehouses lets the smoke knit slowly with the oak. For years the spirit went quietly into blends before its single malt became a legend. Each Diageo Special Release thinned a stock that could never be replaced.

At 54.3%, undiluted, it is bold and smoky. Light oak sweetness underneath, while a gently medicinal smoke carries oily lemon, brine and a lanolin wax. It is elegant and deep, the peat folded into the malt. Embers and sea salt see out a long finish. This is a vanishing dram from Islay's most storied closed distillery.