Total Lots Sold:
49
View Lots
Do you have this bottle for sale?
SELL IT TODAYHAMMER PRICE OVER TIME
This graph displays data solely from Whisky-Online Auctions past sales history. Please note the filling level of the liquid and the condition of an item can affect the price negatively, so please check individual Lot sales below if there's a sudden dip in the graph.
HAVE ONE FOR SALE?
Submit your details along with an image and a description of your bottle. We'll then be in touch with the best way to proceed.
WHY SELL WITH WHISKY-ONLINE AUCTIONS?
0% Sellers Commission
Free Collections Available
Over 30 Years In The Whisky Industry
Over 1,700 Five Star Trustpilot Reviews
We Sell The Rarest Whiskies Ever Bottled
Global Buying Audience Including Far East Buyers
Bespoke Auction Platform
Thousands Of Active Bidders
Large Database Of Newsletter Subscribers
Over 36k Social Media Followers
Port Ellen 1979 - 24 Year Old - Special Releases 2003 - 3rd Release
Port Ellen 1979 - 2003. 24 Year Old. Bottled for Diageo Special Releases in 2003. 3rd Release. One of 9000 bottles. 70cl. 57.3%.
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 finally recommenced production in March 2024.
Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.
This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.