The Basics:

Character: Smoky, briney and oily.

Score: 97/100

The details:

Of all the distilleries that fell victim to the “whisky loch” of the early to mid-1980s, Port Ellen is arguably the most famous and most mourned–so much so that after 40 years of silence, parent firm Diageo did an exhaustive restoration, finally bringing the distillery back from the dead in spring 2024.

The distillery was founded in 1825 by Alexander MacKay, roughly a decade after its near neighbors on Islay’s south shore. It is likely illicit distillation had been taking place nearby for some time prior to the distillery’s official founding. The original owner struggled, and in 1836, the distillery was licensed to John Ramsay. The enterprising Ramsay went into business with the local laird, and their partnership brought about the ferry to Islay; Ramsay also helped to implement improved agricultural processes on the island. The distillery remained in his family until 1920, when a joint venture between James Buchanan and Sons and John Dewar and Sons acquired it. When both firms subsequently became part of DCL, so went the distillery itself. It was closed in 1930, due to one of the industry’s periodic downturns, and didn’t reopen until 1967. 

In the early 1970s, a large maltings was built onsite which, until very recently, provided most of the peated malt to Islay’s distilleries, including those not in the Diageo stable. The distillery closed, seemingly forever, in 1983 during the disastrous whisky loch. Following the closure, the whisky’s reputation grew and grew with increasingly difficult-to-find bottlings of its malt attracting a cult following and attendant high prices. Finally, in 2017, owner Diageo announced that Port Ellen would be refurbished and reopened along with Brora, in the northern Highlands. As noted, the distillery finally resumed production in spring 2024. 

“New” distilleries owned by small concerns are typically cash-strapped and eager to rev up sales as soon as they have legally mature stocks; given that Diageo is a huge concern that runs somewhere in the ballpark of one quarter of all of Scotland’s distilleries, they aren’t likely to be in a huge rush to release stocks from their revived concern at Port Ellen–remember, we waited 12 long years to taste anything from Roseisle. But, my guess is that in 10 or 12 years, we’ll get a first release from the revived Port Ellen, so…something to look forward to!

In the meantime, connoisseurs and completionists will have to make do with increasingly scarce and expensive bottlings from the distillery’s earlier run.

I got this bottle some time before the reopening was announced. I had tried to resist the allure of Port Ellen for quite some time, but eventually, I got it into my head that I just had to try some to see what all the fuss was about. Even when I bought this, most bottlings of Port Ellen were wayyyyyy out of my price range, and even this was definitely a stretch for me (I think I paid just north of $500 for it at auction). 

Was it worth it?

Well, I sure have enjoyed it, although this is a (relatively) rare instance when I really don’t feel able to separate my appraisal of the whisky from the mystique of the distillery and the cost of the bottle, something that has, oddly, been less of an issue with the handful of even more expensive bottles I’ve sampled. More than once I’ve thought I surely overrated this whisky, and yet when I’ve revisited it, my high score has held. I’m still honestly not quite sure whether 97/100 is too high a score for this whisky, but that’s what I’ve rated it (more than once), and it is damned tasty–a complex, smoky, briney, oily, and even sweet dram.

McGibbon’s Provenance Port Ellen 1983, 46% abv

Tasting notes:

Nose: In some respects, classic south shore Islay; sooty, smoky, medicinal and briny. But there’s also an uncharacteristic sweetness here, like powdered sugar on a beignet. A cool stony, mossy mountain stream. Some berry notes, like blueberry pancakes, and the faintest whiff of fresh mint and even maple syrup.

Body: Medium, and gently oily.

Palate: Remarkable. Very smoky, but also lots of forest floor–lots of moss, cool stone, and decaying wood. A gentle, slightly metallic brininess. Engine oil. Soot and charred wood, but there’s a richness that you’d never find in a younger Ardbeg, say, and there’s a late burst of almost savory juiciness like a very ripe peach. Amazingly sweet as well as smoky and briny. Complex.

Finish: Long, graphite, woodsmoke. Gentle, mellow and balanced.

Score: 97/100

Who should buy it?: People with a sizable whisky budget and the dogged persistence to find a vanishingly rare bottle? People who enjoy Islay at its most uncompromising.

Overall thoughts: Even if I’ve overrated it, this is still some damned fine whisky, and if you’re a fan of the ultra-smoky and briney style of Islay’s Kildalton coast, I don’t think you’d be unhappy with this. Excellent stuff!

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