Port Ellen
Fact Sheet
Founded: 1825
Closed: 1983
Last owner: United Distillers (Diageo)
Stills: 2 wash, 2 spirit
Capacity: 2.25 million litres per year
Location: Port Ellen, Isle of Islay
Notable Facts: Port Ellen was closed and partly demolished during the economical crisis of the early 1980s. The modern maltings of Port Ellen – built in 1974 – continue to supply many Islay distilleries with malt. The warehouses store casks of Lagavulin.
Report of my visit to Port Ellen
Bottlings
June 23, 2012
This Port Ellen is a bit on the sweet side, but all the flavours are very well balanced. A fabulous dram indeed, but at a very steep price..- Rating: 92/100
June 8, 2012
A very light and subtle Port Ellen that needs a little time to open up, a style that its not too prominent on Islay anymore. – Rating: 87/100
March 25, 2012
A rather delicate peaty dram with very subtle flavours. Very nice but not quite on par with other Port Ellens I have tasted. – Rating: 85/100
September 20, 2011
An incredibly rich peated sherry monster, the savoury quality is stunning. There is much more going on in it than my puny tasting notes can describe. – Rating: 92/100
December 31, 2010
After giving it a little time to open up this malt devlops into a festival of maritime and spicy flavours accompanied by fruity chords. A whisky not too far away from perfection. – Rating: 93/100
December 22, 2009
This is an extremely complex malt with aromas that seem to come and go in waves during time. Flavours are so concentrated that you could delay it 1:1 with neutral spirit, water it down to drinking strength and still have an excellent dram. – Score: 94/100
July 19, 2009
No peat monster but perfectly balanced with the wood influence caused by long maturation. Both complex and subtle as no aroma tries to dominate. – Score: 93/100
Mentioned in These Articles
April 5, 2013
Diageo’s recent announcement to build a new big whisky distillery next to Teaninich has again – much like it was the case with Roseisle some years ago – prompted a wave of disapproval among whisky geeks.
January 23, 2013
It came as quite a surprise when I received an official invitation for the Victoria Whisky Festival a few months ago. Here is the report.
January 10, 2013
Name: Lawrence Graham
Year of Birth: 1958
Place of Residence: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Whisky Involvement: Festival organizer, blogger
December 20, 2012
Because whisky geeks often use abbreviations that may not always be understandable for less experienced whisky lovers here is a list that also includes a few slang terms for whisky distilleries or brands.
November 12, 2012
On Friday, the long-negotiated deal between Diageo and United spirits has finally been finalized. Diageo pays £1.3 billion for a 53.4% stake in the company.
October 11, 2012
After the first blind tasting round with only Scotch single malt whiskies, most competitors also signed up for the ‘Freestyle’ tasting.
September 27, 2012
Did I manage to grab your attention? Thank you. Of course the headline is an exaggeration, but not by much, actually.
September 22, 2012
I have done some number crunching with the bottle data in the Whisky Monitor to see if there is a noticeable trend how independent bottlings do for a specific distillery.
June 16, 2012
As many of you will know, the Malt Maniacs are having their 15th anniversary this year. To celebrate this milestone in style, we met in Scotland.
June 2, 2012
Besides my love for whisky I have another culinary passion: barbecue. Now why not combine those two passions in a spontaneous Saturday Session?
May 5, 2012
For the first time ever I was able to attend this legendary whisky festival this year, albeit for one day only
October 10, 2011
I received an invitation for this year’s Whisky Show organized by The Whisky Exchange at Vinopolis in London. Even though it was not quite easy to fit this into my schedule, I decided to accept anyway.
August 3, 2011
Now here is a true crunch question: What do you think about using whisky for mixing?
June 20, 2011
Kilchoman distillery on Islay launched their new 100% Islay expression on the 16th June. But the pricing of the cask strength version that is sold only at the distillery gave me shock.
June 17, 2011
Yesterday’s 10 Essential Things About Scotch Whisky Everybody Should Know was the theory. Here comes the practice.
May 25, 2011
During my Scotland whisky trip I made quite a lot of experiences that are not really worthy of an entire blog post but should not go unmentioned nonetheless.
May 22, 2011
Like Knockdhu, Glendronach is only about ten miles away from Huntly close to Forgue, so with the help of a lift I could visit this distillery as well. Retired distillery manager Frank Massie showed my around the place.
May 21, 2011
After the Spirit of Speyside Festival my travels led me to the eastern part of the Speyside region. I had made an appointment for a visit at Knockdhu distillery where anCnoc whisky is produced.
May 18, 2011
Stewart Buchanan, the distillery manager of Benriach held a tasting of his whiskies at the Spirit of Speyside Festival. It started out as your usual distillery tasting, but it turned into something very special.
May 12, 2011
Some distilleries are not normally open for visitors. Only for the Spirit of Speyside Festival Diageo opens the doors to Mortlach.
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