Port Ellen distillery is located in

Port Ellen Port Ellen ( gd, Port Ìlein) is a small town on the island of Islay, in Argyll, Scotland. The town is named after the wife of its founder, Walter Frederick Campbell. Its previous name, ''Leòdamas'', is derived from Old Norse meaning "Leòd's Ha ...

on the isle of

Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The isl ...

, Scotland. It initially operated between 1825 and 1983 when production shut down.

History

Port Ellen was established as a malt mill in 1825, and then developed as a distillery under John Ramsay from 1833 to 1892. The warehouses he built still exist and are listed buildings. The distillery was acquired by the

Distillers Company Limited The Distillers Company Limited was a leading Scottish drinks and pharmaceutical company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over by Guinness & Co. (now part of Diageo) in 1986 in a transaction which was later ...

in 1925, was closed in 1930 and rebuilt in 1966/1967. It continued in production throughout the 1970s and was closed in 1983, although supplies of its single malt whisky are still available. When Port Ellen was closed in 1983, Diageo did knock down some of the buildings, repurposed others, and destroyed the stills. The distillery houses a

malting Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract. Various grains are used for malting, most ...

which continues to supply all Islay distilleries, as per an agreement signed in 1987. The dwindling stocks of Port Ellen whisky are owned by

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

; due to the closing of the distillery, its whisky is a collectors item. On 9 October 2017, Diageo announced that the distillery would reopen in 2020, following a £35 million investment in re-opening both Port Ellen and also their closed

Brora distillery Brora distillery is a producer of single malt Scotch whisky based in Brora, Scotland. It operated between 1819 and 1983 before being mothballed until 2021, when it was it was reactivated. History The Brora distillery was built in 1819 by the M ...

in Sutherland, which also closed in 1983. Diageo suggested the first new release might be of a 12 year old expression, i.e., in 2032, but have left the door open for possibly earlier releases. On 8 May 2019, Diageo submitted plans to revive the distillery, and to build a new stillhouse. Diageo say they are going to considerable efforts to recreate as similar as possible new stills, and point to factory records from the 1980s, and have former Port Ellen employees working for them elsewhere on Islay to assist in an accurate recreation of the Port Ellen style. The Distillery build is currently under the management of Alexander McDonald, an Islay resident with previous positions held in Kilchoman, Lagavulin and Caol Ila distillery. plans are for the distillery to reopen in 2023. In 2022, a rare 1979 cask of Port Ellen whisky was auctioned by

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

for £875,000. It was sold in a lot which included an artwork in

Murano Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was on ...

glass by artist and designer

Ini Archibong Inimfon “Ini” Joshua Archibong (born 23 June 1983) is an industrial designer, creative director, artist and musician who is active in product design, furniture design, environmental design, architecture, watch design, and fashion. He has said ...

. Diageo announced that five percent of the hammer price would be donated to support

Care International CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded i ...

's work in Ukraine.

References

Bibliography

* * Whisky distilleries in Islay Port Ellen {{Scotland-company-stub