Port Ellen 35 Years Old 1983 Cask #11535 (The Character of Islay Whisky Company)

The Character of Islay Whisky Company selected this Port Ellen at 35 year old, from 1983, drawn from cask 11535 and bottled at 47.9%. Built in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay, Port Ellen 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. Refill bourbon wood held the spirit, flattering its citric, oily smoke. Three decades and more leave a fragile, elegant smoke and a deep waxy body. Time in the cask rounds the spirit, the smoke settling into a soft, waxy depth. Smoke, salt and citrus mark it out from its Islay neighbours. Each bottling is a finite draw on a stock that ended in 1983. The old warehouses still hold the last of the closed era spirit.

At its natural 47.9% it is rich and briny. A smoky, mineral note carries salted citrus and a soft wax, with a thread of vanilla from the bourbon wood. Soft embers and brine sit behind the smoke. Salt, smoke and wax draw out the close. This is spirit from the lost years of Port Ellen, finite for good.