Last night I drank a wondrous dram,
Full round with hints of peat,
A touch of smoke and sweet bouquet,
Port Ellen - sip it neat.

Pure Iiquid poetry. That's what I sipped "Last night". It came from cask number 1391, distilled in l981, in Port Ellen. That distinguished author Michael Jackson describes Port Ellen as "the rarest of Islay Malts" It is a mere 17 miles from Ireland yet it is still part of the great Scotch whisky inheritance. A little town of the same name was established by Walter Campbell in 1821 and named after his wife Eleanor.

The '0a' is the southerly peninsular of the beautiful island of Islay. At the head of it, above its deep glens and many caves (ideal for illicit distilling) lies Port Ellen, Within a mere 3 miles lie 4 of the greatest distilleries in the world. Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, and the westerly Port Ellen itself.

At Port Ellen, in the massive maltings, they still malt barley for a number of the Islay distilleries. But tragically, history came to an end in 1983; In May, fourteen years ago, the Distillers company Limited issued a statement saying: "The closure of Port Ellen is part of the measures taken by Scottish Malt Distillers to reduce output in order to bring the level of maturing stock into line with the anticipated level of future sales". Never mind the economic destruction of a community and the human tragedy never remind the wonderful product and the history behind it - they had decided to destroy this great product which they never even marketed as a single maIt. Let me give you a tiny glimpse of the history of Port Ellen.

Huge deep and dark corries cut into the hills of Islay. No human habitation - just bleak rock and heather. In 1833, an eighteen year old, John Ramsay, born in the year of Waterloo, was landed at Port Askaig. He made his way across these hills for twelve fearsome miles. He had been sent by his Uncle, the Public Prosecutor of Clackmannan, Ebeneezer Rarnsay, to see what was happening at the distillery in Port Ellen, managed by his cousin John Morrison. This remarkable youth discovered his elder cousin was making a disaster of the new "official" distillery at Port Ellen.

Within a few years Ramsay was in partnership with the land owner, Major James Adair, (he bad lost a leg at Waterloo.) Within six years he built a large duty free warehouse. By 1842 records show that he had 7399 gallons of whisky in bond! Young Ramsay also started a regular ferry service to Glasgow, and from the distillery's point of view something much more important. He developed the trade to North America, by direct export, from this tiny port. As his business grew, so too did his estates. In 1855 he purchased for £70,000; the land of Laphroaig, of Lagavulin and of Ardbeg, and he move into senior public service.

John Ramsay became the Liberal MP for Stirling. In addition as the Chairman of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce he helped develop the whisky industry on a national basis. The government was persuaded to allow whisky on Islay to be kept duty free in bonded warehouses as it matured. Back at Port Ellen distillery he worked on experiments to develop patent stills. It is believed that much of the research done at Port Ellen led to the ability to manufacture grain whisky.

John Ramsay was described as "a man of large, intelligence and practical good sense" as he had also developed the "spirit safe" which is used in all distilleries. He gave assisted passages to "Canada to tenants who were unable to feed themselves off the sparse land, and he indeed sailed himself to Canada with them to see that they were properly settled. He built a big blending and bottling plant in Glasgow and was one of the founders of the modern industry. 104 years ago he died leaving Port Ellen distillery to his wife, Lucy. It remained in the hands of herself and her son, Iain, until the late 1920's when DCL took over.

Two years after the merging with Buchanan-Dewars in DCL the company was closed! Reportedly, there was whisky in bonded warehouses at Port Ellen to last forty years. Surprisingly enough, 37 years later in the mid 1960's DCL opened up the distillery again. New buildings were added and in 1973 the huge 30 metre high maltings were built. Within ten years DCL had again closed the entire distilling operation, keeping open only the maltings. It is from that short gap in time - 1981 - that the cask I have just tasted came. Long after the lingering aftertaste of this whisky had left my tongue I still savour its memory. I ask, "how on earth could anyone close something that produces a nectar as sublime as this?

So let me tell you now about this distinguished dram... Half way across the immense Laggan Bog, the deep peat is hand cut, dried and stacked in tiers. The peat was taken to Port Ellen where the barley was germinated in the maltings. Slightly sweetening after germination, the barley was dried at 700C over peat smoked as a green malt, for thirty-six hours.

At Port Ellen the reek of the peat imparted flavour to the drying malt before it was mashed and brewed. In hot water, the enzymes were broken down creating simple sugars, producing the sweet wort. After fermentation this was distilled in April 1981 to extract the superb alcohol spirit. After distillation and filling in to the fired bourbon cask No. 1391 the Port Ellen whisky matured for fifteen years in a large earth-floored bonded warehouse. As not a further drop has been produced for the last fourteen years, stocks are getting rarer arid rarer of this precious fluid. The distilling equipment was all shipped, we understand, to India, where it is now used to make hooch for export to Russia!

This was a rare dram you would dream of. It is an incredibly powerful 62.6% ABV. When we first came upon this cask we were absolutely astonished by its light, slightly sea-smoky bouquet and its wondrous smoothness. You can hardly credit that a whisky as strong could be as smooth.

Now let me tell you about the colour. It's very pale gold. Some might say it's more the colour of a Pinot Grigio wine than of an Islay malt. On the nose you instantly smell the sea. It evoked so many memories and we found it powerful and immensely pleasing. The hints of vanilla are stronger than those of peat. A delightful early sweetness filled my mouth and yet I did not find it sickly as I moved it around my palate. On the tongue it became drier and drier. It was most certainly not medicinal, nor overly sweet. particular delight was in the length of the aftertaste. This was one of the great experiences of my whisky tasting life! I recently had the pleasure of recording a lengthy audio tape on whisky tasting with Charlie Maclean, author of the best-seIling "Mitchell Beazley Pocket Whisky Book". As he is one of the most experienced whisky tasters in the world I invited him to join us in sampling the cask number 1391. Like me he felt it was a perfect pre-lunch dram, and he also thought it would be ideal with shellfish or smoked salmon foods that are so rarely presented with malt whisky.

This cask strength single malt that I rated supreme, from a distillery sadly long dormant provided a hint of history, with a flavour sublime.

For details of how you can become a member of the Whisky Connoisseur, contact Arthur J. A. Bell at 101763.437@compuserve.com with your name and mailing address.

You can find more articles in the archive under The Whisky Connoisseur.