Port Ellen 32 Years Old 1983 Cask #001/508 (The Auld Alliance)

This Port Ellen was from the independent bottler The Auld Alliance matured to 32 year old, from 1983, drawn from cask 001/508 and bottled at 54%. A release of 120 bottles. The legendary Port Ellen, established in 1825 on Islay's southern coast near the village of Port Ellen, was closed in 1983 in the whisky downturn. The distillery was reborn in 2024, but these casks date from its legendary years.

Heavily peated malt, kilned over Islay peat, set the smoky tone and run through copper pot stills on soft island water, for the austere, structured peat the malt is known for. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood holding back so the peat speaks. At this great age the peat is a ghostly whisper over beeswax, old oak and sea salt. Decades in oak soften the phenols, turning sharp peat reek into mellow embers. Its smoke leans citric and mineral rather than tarry and medicinal.

Bottled at a cask strength 54%, it is intense. A refined peat reek runs over a waxy, briny lift, with a gentle vanilla note. The texture is oily and coating, the smoke threaded with sea salt. The close is slow, soft peat over wax. This is one of the great ghost whiskies of Islay.