Port Ellen 12 Year Old - Queens Visit - 1980

1 bottle Port Ellen 12 Year Old. Bottled 1980 for the visit of the Queen on August 9th. In original presentation box with glass stopper. Plastic wrapper seal over stopper cork. 75cl. Strength unknown. Level in original position at mid shoulder. Creases and faint marks to box. Minor marks to label. Overall good condition for age.  This is both the only known bottling of Port Ellen produced while the distillery was active and the only known example distilled in 1967. It was decided that a bottling should be done for the occasion of the Queen's visit back in 1980. The whisky was selected and drawn from two 1967 Hogsheads by legendary warehouseman Iain 'Pinky' McArthur. The number of bottles produced was very limited, enough that one could be given to the Queen and to each of the councillors and senior staff present on the day. The bottling strength remains unknown but Iain McArthur insists it was bottled at cask strength without reduction. The bottling was soon forgotten at the time, but as the years have passed they have occasionally surfaced at auction and their value and desirability have grown.  Last year during the special whisky tour 'The Islay Odyssey', a bottle of this was opened at the old Malt Mill buildings in Lagavulin. The whisky was tasted by all present, including several Diageo staff, and was unanimously considered a truly remarkable dram. This is the only whisky to hold a rating of 99/100 on Whiskyfun - the highest score Serge Valentin has ever afforded any whisky. There are no longer any of these bottles available on any retail sites and this is this bottling's first appearance at auction since 2013. It remains the holy grail for Port Ellen collectors and - since the publlicity surrounding the opening of one last year - now one of the most desirable and sought after bottles of whisky in the world.  This particular bottling comes from a member of staff present on the occasion of the Queen's visit back in 1980 and has been kept by them ever since. It will likely be a long time before another bottle in such good condition, with such strong provenance, an unmoved fill level and orignal box turns up at auction again, making this an exceptionally rare opportunity to acquire one of the most legendary bottles of whisky ever produced.