Port Ellen 32 years 1979 - 2011 11th Release

Port Ellen was founded in 1825 as a malt house and then developed into a distillery from 1833 to 1892 under the leadership of John Ramsay. The warehouses he built are still listed. The distillery was taken over by the Distillers Company Limited in 1925, closed in 1930 and rebuilt in 1966/1967. Production continued through the 1970s and closed in 1983, although single malt whisky is still available. When Port Ellen closed in 1983, Diageo demolished some of the buildings, reused others and destroyed the stills.

Origin and bottling

Distilled in 1979 and finally bottled in the year 2011 after a 32-year maturation. This is the 11th edition from the Annual Release series. Only 2988 bottles were eventually releases, making it very exclusive.

Cask type

Several Refill American Oak casks as well as European Oak casks were selected for this 11th Release. The choice was made to bottle this whisky at natural cask strength.

Tasting note

Colour

Golden yellow

Nose

Sweet and smoke are the first scents to emerge from the glass. A hint of liquorice, some vanilla and flowers, but of course also the so recognisable smoked fish and campfire scents.

Taste

Full-bodied and very mouth-filling. This is super, dry smoke, sweet vanilla, fresh citrus notes the mouth is challenged to name all the flavours. Everything perfectly balanced and extremely complex. Hints of peppermint, but mostly fragrant ports, tarred railway ties and smoked fish.

Finish

Salt and smoke are the two flavours that linger longest. Delicious....

Overall impression

Very different again from the other annual releases, but still unmistakably Port Ellen

This Port Ellen 11th Release has an average score of 92.20/100 points on WhiskyBase

Limited Edition Bottle No. 0560

Read Serge Valentin's tasting note on his website www.WhiskyFun.com here.

He rated this Single Malt Whisky with 95/100 points.