Port Ellen 30 Years Old The Old Malt Cask 60th Anniversary Bottling (Douglas Laing)

Douglas Laing bottled this Port Ellen single malt, aged 30 year old, and bottled at 55.6%. 234 bottles in all. Built in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay, Port Ellen was closed in 1983 and long mourned. Its last casks were laid down in 1983, a finite legacy ever since.

Made in onion shaped stills on soft Islay water, building the oily, briny style it is loved for. Refill bourbon wood held the spirit, flattering its citric, oily smoke. 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 closed years only deepened the legend around the malt. A whisky measured now in dwindling casks rather than fresh spirit. Smoke, salt and citrus mark it out from its Islay neighbours. Each bottling is a finite draw on a stock that ended in 1983.

At cask strength 55.6% it is muscular. Lemon zest and coastal salt ride on drifting Islay peat smoke, with a thread of vanilla from the bourbon wood. It is structured and a touch austere, the refill oak keeping it lean. It fades on smoke, citrus and a saline tang. This is spirit from the lost years of Port Ellen, finite for good.