Port Ellen 33yo

In 25+ years of drinking whisky I've never tried a Port Ellen. It's obviously too expensive to buy a bottle but finally I've been gifted a sample from a mate!

Is Port Ellen a special dram? Let's find out!

Located on Islay’s southern coast, Port Ellen was founded by Alexander Kerr Mackay in 1825. Originally a malt mill which supplied the illicit distilleries on the Oa peninsula, the new distillery derived its name from the nearby town – Port Ellen. Alexander Mackay went bankrupt within a few months, with control of Port Ellen passing to Mackay’s relatives John Morrison, Patrick Thomson and George MacLennan. In 1836, Port Ellen’s lease was taken over by the 21-year-old John Ramsay, a cousin of John Morrison.

A pioneer of the transatlantic whisky trade, John Ramsay would begin to export Port Ellen malt to the United States. Ramsay would also become established as a spirit importer of sherry and madeira, using the casks to mature the Port Ellen whisky. The whisky trade and development of Islay’s whisky industry would be aided by Ramsay and Campbell’s creation of a ferry service between the island and Glasgow, which also established Port Ellen as the island’s main ferry terminal. In 1869, the whisky blender and broker W.P. Lowrie became sales agent for Port Ellen, with the malt being sold for blending to clients including James Buchanan and John Dewar & Sons.

John Ramsay died in 1892, with his widow Lucy Ramsay inheriting and managing Port Ellen until her own death in 1906. Iain Ramsay succeeded his mother as owner and licensee in 1906, running Port Ellen until 1920. A combination of the Pattison whisky crash, the First World War years and economic depression forced Iain Ramsay to sell Port Ellen to the Port Ellen Distillery Co. Ltd in 1920, which was a partnership between blenders James Buchanan and John Dewar. In 1925, Buchanan and Dewar merged with Distillers Company Limited (DCL) transferring ownership of Port Ellen to DCL. Port Ellen was closed and mothballed by DCL in 1930, impacted by the effects of Prohibition and economic depression on the global whisky market.

Port Ellen would remain silent for the next 37 years, although DCL continued to use the maltings and warehouses at the site. In 1966, DCL began reviving Port Ellen initiating a modernisation and reconstruction programme to meet the rising demand for peated whisky, including installing two additional stills which doubled production to 1.7 million litres of alcohol when Port Ellen reopened in April 1967. A new drum malting facility was constructed alongside the Port Ellen distillery in 1973, supplying malted grain for DCL’s three Islay distilleries, Caol Ila, Lagavulin, and Port Ellen. Queen Elizabeth II would visit Port Ellen on the 9th August 1980, with the only official Port Ellen bottling released while the distillery was active produced to commemorate the royal visit.

The 1980’s whisky loch hit Islay hard, as blending companies needed only a small percentage of peated malt to produce bottlings of blended whisky. As DCL owned three Islay distilleries Port Ellen was deemed surplus to requirements and closed in May 1983, with the still house and bonded warehouses demolished. The Port Ellen stills were removed and allegedly shipped to India during the 1990s. In 1987, DCL declared that the Port Ellen distillery was closed permanently, with the surviving buildings repurposed for maltings. The Port Ellen maltings would survive due to the 1987 Concordat of Islay Distillers, an agreement between the active distilleries on Islay and Jura to all acquire a percentage of their malted barley from Port Ellen to protect jobs. Port Ellen’s revival era lasted for only 16 years, and Port Ellen seemed destined to join Scotland’s lost distilleries when the distilling licence was cancelled in 1992.  

Bottler notes:

This sample came from Douglas Laing, well to be more precise Fred Laing - this was from his private collection. 

For that reason I have no more information than what was on the sample bottle: Port Ellen 33yo 47.3% ABV Sherry Cask.

A search on WhiskyBase didn't turn up anything helpful! 

Let's see what it's like.... 

Appearance: Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick oily legs.

Nose: musty to start, some earth peat and a hint of salinity. There's a lovey tropical fruit notes and hints of orange zest. Some hedgerow berries and a drop of lemon juice round things off.

Palate: thick sweet arrival: oily and mouth coating. It's quite chewy with toffee, honey and a little icing sugar. The smoke arrives, blanketing everything - it's earthy and briny - lingering on the tongue before fading to leave a dry herbal note. There's not much sign of the sherry / berry notes from the nose here. A little sour citrus and peppery spice bites at the tongue as the liquid disappears. A few more sips offer oak chippings, BBQ pineapple and some herbal notes.

Finish: Lingering earthy smoke, citrus and salinity.

Overall: I hate to think what a bottle of this would cost - it would be into 5 figures I'm sure. It's a nice enough dram with a lot of complexity due to it's 33 year maturation but not 'worth' that kind of price tag. The 'worth' comes from the fact that it's rare - the distillery long since closed and stock running out.