Port Ellen 1981/2023 - 42 yo - G&M Refill Sherry Butt #290 Recollection Series

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 52.5% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

This Port Ellen matured for 42 years in a single Refill Sherry Butt and forms part of Gordon & MacPhail’s Recollection Series. It was distilled on 28 January 1981 and bottled from cask 290 on 6 February 2023 at 52.5%. The release comprises 181 bottles. The whisky retains its natural colour and is bottled without chill filtration.

The long maturation in a sherry cask brings together dark fruit, pastry notes and sweet smoke. Chocolate, spices and peanut brittle complement this character. The Recollection Series focuses on old single malts from closed or long-silent distilleries. When this edition was released, the 42-year-old Port Ellen was the oldest Port Ellen bottling Gordon & MacPhail had offered to date.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: Dark chocolate, ginger and cinnamon combine on the nose. Blackcurrant gives way to Medjool dates and sweet vanilla.
• Palate: On the palate, rich fruitcake is followed by baked apples and full, sweet smoke. Peanut brittle emerges alongside dark cherry and spicy pepper.
• Finish: The finish is long and full, with lingering dried fruit and campfire embers.

Distillery/Bottler:

Port Ellen distilled the spirit in 1981, two years before the Islay distillery closed at that time. Diageo reopened Port Ellen on 19 March 2024 after more than four decades. The whisky in this edition comes entirely from the earlier production era.

James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail founded Gordon & MacPhail in Elgin in 1895 as a grocery business selling tea, coffee, wine and whisky. John Urquhart and later his son George developed the selection and maturation of single malts, matching oak casks to individual spirits and allowing some whiskies to mature for decades. This shaped the company’s development into an independent bottler and specialist in long cask maturation. For the Recollection Series, Gordon & MacPhail also uses casks made to its own specifications.

Facts: