Port Ellen 29 Years Old 1982 Old & Rare The Platinum Selection (Douglas Laing)

This Port Ellen was from the independent bottler Douglas Laing, a 29 year old Islay malt, from 1982 and bottled at 55.7%. The outturn was 360 bottles. The legendary Port Ellen, opened in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, was shut by DCL in 1983. Diageo reopened the distillery in 2024, though stock like this comes from the original era.

Heavily peated malt, kilned over Islay peat, set the smoky tone and distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs, to give a maritime, citrus edged smoke quite its own. An Oloroso sherry cask wrapped the smoke in dried fruit and a nutty depth. At this age the smoke turns gentle and oily, the spirit deep, briny and refined. Years by the Atlantic give the malt its briny, oily weight. Port Ellen was one of three Diageo Islay distilleries, the one judged surplus in 1983.

Bottled at a cask strength 55.7%, it is intense. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and an elegant, structured smoke runs over lemon peel and sea brine, with a gentle vanilla note. The mouthfeel is oily, the smoke carried on a waxy body. The finish runs oily, saline and slow. This is one of the great ghost whiskies of Islay.