Port Ellen 200th Anniversary | 42 Year Old 1983 | Final Year Before Closure | Refill European Oak | 56.4% ABV | 150 Bottles | 70cl

Port Ellen distillery was founded on Islay in 1825. It closed in 1983, was demolished in part, and became — over the decades that followed — the most mythologised address in Scotch whisky. When Diageo announced the distillery's revival in 2021 and reopened it in March 2024, it marked the end of one of the great absences in whisky history. In 2025, Port Ellen reaches its 200th anniversary — and to mark it, just 150 bottles have been released from the most historically significant vintage the distillery holds: 1983, the very last year spirit ran from its stills before closure.

This 42 Year Old was distilled in the final year of the original Port Ellen's life, matured for over four decades in Refill European Oak, and bottled at natural cask strength of 56.4% ABV. It is the first distillery-only release since the reopening, and only the second 1983 bottling ever produced — the previous appearing a decade ago in 2015. The 200th anniversary artwork, The Atlas of Smoke, created by Ini Archibong in specialised Vitrucell glass, forms the centrepiece of the new distillery experience on Islay. This bottle belongs to the same moment.

Key Details
- Distillery: Port Ellen, Islay — closed 1983, reopened March 2024
- Expression: 200th Anniversary Release
- Vintage: Distilled 1983 — the final year of the original distillery
- Age: 42 Years Old
- Style: Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
- Cask: Refill European Oak
- Bottling strength: 56.4% ABV — Natural Cask Strength
- Bottle size: 70cl
- Outturn: 150 bottles — distillery exclusive
- Availability: Exclusively at Port Ellen Distillery by appointment, or via the Diageo private client team in Scotland
- Significance: First distillery-only release since reopening; only the second 1983 bottling ever produced
- Condition: Perfect, with original packaging

Tasting Notes
Nose: Unmistakable Port Ellen depth — smoky and coastal, with ripe berries and caramelised sugars lifting the peat into something warm, rounded and beautifully inviting. The 42 years in Refill European Oak have softened and integrated the famous medicinal, briny character into something more complex and contemplative than younger expressions of the distillery.

Palate: Layered and harmonious — the smoky Port Ellen signature at the core, surrounded by caramelised fruit sweetness, coastal salt and a profound depth from four decades in wood. Balance and harmony are the defining qualities here, not intensity alone.

Finish: Long, maritime and deeply satisfying — smoke, ripe berry, caramelised oak and sea salt fading slowly in the way that only very old, very properly matured Islay whisky can manage.

Why This Bottle Is Worth Bidding On
- Only 150 bottles exist worldwide — the entire outturn from a single 1983 cask, distilled in the final year of the original Port Ellen. This is categorically one of the rarest Port Ellen releases ever produced
- The first distillery-only release since reopening, and only the second 1983 bottling in history — a bottle that sits at the precise intersection of the distillery's 200-year story, its closure, its revival and its future
- Port Ellen is the most sought-after address in Scotch whisky collecting; 1983 vintage at cask strength in this outturn is the kind of release that does not return to the secondary market once it has gone