Port Ellen 40 Years Old 1982 Cask #17544 (XOP)

Douglas Laing selected this Port Ellen, a 40 year old Islay malt, from 1982, drawn from cask 17544 and bottled at 59.1%. The outturn was 290 bottles. The legendary Port Ellen, established in 1825 beside the bay at Port Ellen on Islay, was closed in 1983 and long mourned. Its whisky grew into a legend after closure.

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. A refill American oak cask held it, keeping the distillery character to the fore. At such an age the peat is soft and distant, the malt waxy, oily and profound. Coastal warehousing lends a saline, maritime note as the spirit breathes by the sea. Its smoke leans citric and mineral rather than tarry and medicinal. The casks were filled before the stills fell silent in 1983. Diageo invested heavily to raise the distillery again two centuries on.

At its natural 59.1% it is rich and briny. Embers of Islay peat carries maritime salt and citrus, with a quiet sweetness from the refill cask. Beneath the peat run lemon, wax and a mineral note. A long, briny finish smoulders to the end. This is a rare survivor of the 1983 closure.