Port Ellen 1978-2006 - 28 Year Old - Douglas Laing - Old & Rare Platinum Selection - Single Cask

INFORMATION

Port Ellen 1978 - 2006. 28 Year Old. Bottled by Douglas Laing for their Old & Rare Platinum Selection. Single Cask. One of 212 bottles matured in a Sherry Cask. 70cl. 56.1%.

A phenomenal sherried Port Ellen 1978 bottled as a 28-year-old by Douglas Laing in 2006 for their Old & Rare Platinum Selection. It’s worth noting that Douglas Laing bottled dozens of superb Port Ellens from 2000 onwards, but only a handful of the very best were deemed worthy for the Platinum Selection series.

This 1978 Port Ellen is that rarest of beasts, a sherried Port Ellen, although as just 212 bottles were yielded at it’s natural cask strength of 56.1% it may have been from a smaller sherry hogshead rather than a butt - or perhaps the angels took a particular liking to the contents. A brilliantly-balanced combination of rich sherry and dry, ashy phenols, in which neither element dominates but both combine to create a truly special dram.

DISTILLERY:Port Ellen

DISTILLERY STATUS:Closed

Bottle ABV:56.1%

Bottle SIZE:70cl / 700ml

Bottle PRODUCED:212

BOTTLER:Douglas Laing

SPIRIT TYPE:Scotland

LIMITED EDITION:yes

CASK TYPE:Single Malt

REGION:Islay

DISTILLED YEAR:1978

BOTTLING DATE::2006

AGE:28

One of the great lost distilleries on Islay, Port Ellen was little-known in its lifetime with only a handful of official bottlings produced before the distillery closed in 1983 as part of Diageo forerunner Scottish Malt Distilleries’ swingeing cuts in response to the great whisky lake of the 1970s and 1980s.

Later rediscovered by malt fans thanks to fine independent bottlings from the likes of Gordon & MacPhail, Cadenhead’s and Signatory Vintage, Port Ellen’s reputation mushroomed through the 1990s and 2000s as sensational Rare Malts bottlings were followed by a string of legendary Diageo Special Releases and dozens of superb single cask bottlings from Douglas Laing.

In 2017 the whisky world was stunned when Diageo announced that work was taking place to bring Port Ellen distillery back from the dead - the new Port Ellen distillery is currently scheduled to commence production in 2023.