Port Ellen 35 Years Old 1982 Cask #2040 (Signatory)

Signatory Vintage selected this Port Ellen matured to 35 year old, from 1982, drawn from cask 2040 and bottled at 55.1%. Just 567 bottles were filled. Port Ellen, dating to 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay, was closed in 1983 and long mourned. It became the most lamented of all the lost distilleries.

Peat smoke from Islay's bogs dried the malt to its smoky pitch, made in onion shaped stills on soft Islay water, for a peat reek tempered by salt and citrus. An Oloroso butt held it, sherry and smoke twining together. Very old Port Ellen turns ethereal, the smoke faded to embers over honeyed oak. Time in the cask rounds the spirit, the smoke settling into a soft, waxy depth. Few lost distilleries are mourned as deeply, or bottled as devotedly, as Port Ellen.

Undiluted at 55.1%, it is deep and smoky. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and drifting Islay peat smoke carries salted citrus and a soft wax, with soft vanilla and a touch of coconut from the cask. Soft embers and brine sit behind the smoke. It fades on smoke, citrus and a saline tang. This is a revered Islay malt from a distillery silent for forty years.