Port Ellen 39 Years Old

A distillery bottling of Port Ellen, a 39 year old Islay malt, from 1978 and bottled at 50.9%. Only 1500 bottles were released. 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.

The barley was kilned over peat to around thirty five phenol parts per million and distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs, to give a maritime, citrus edged smoke quite its own. Maturation in Oloroso sherry laid smoked dried fruit over the peat. At this great age the peat is a ghostly whisper over beeswax, old oak and sea salt. Port Ellen was matured largely in refill casks, which sharpen the smoke and leave the malt a touch austere.

At its natural 50.9% it is rich and briny. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and a gently medicinal smoke runs over lemon peel and sea brine, with light oak sweetness underneath. The mouthfeel is oily, the smoke carried on a waxy body. Embers and sea salt see out a long finish. This is one of the great ghost whiskies of Islay.