Port Ellen

Port Ellen is among the most collected whiskies in Scotland, and the spirit that made its name fits in a sixteen-year window. Founded in 1825 beside Islay's main port, on the site of a malt mill that had probably been supplying the island's illicit distillers, it ran, stopped, and ran again — and the whisky it is known for was distilled between 1967 and 1983.

It is unlike anything from its southern neighbours: highly maritime, with a sharp lemon note over light tar and a certain oiliness. Most of it went quietly into refill casks bound for blends, which is why the oak sits back and the distillery character comes forward — and why a heavily oaked Port Ellen is a rare thing.

In 1983 its owners judged they had more peated whisky than their blends could use, and closed it. Independent bottlers spent the next two decades proving them wrong, cask by cask, and they far outnumber the distillery's own releases. The first official Annual Release came in 2001, eighteen years after the stills went cold, and each one since has come out of a pool that only shrinks.

The maltings built alongside in 1973 never stopped, and supply Islay to this day. Diageo restarted distilling on 19 March 2024 — but everything collectable was laid down in 1983 or earlier.