Port Ellen distillery is located in

Port Ellen Port Ellen () 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 Harbour". Port E ...

on the isle of

Islay Islay ( ; , ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's cap ...

, Scotland. Port Ellen distillery reopened in 2024 after being closed since 1983.

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 The Distillers Company plc was a leading Scotch whisky company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over in 1986 by Guinness & Co. and is now part of Diageo. History The Distillers Company origins lie in a trade ...

(DCL) in 1925, was closed in 1930, and then 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, DCL knocked 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. Germination and sprouting involve a number of enzymes to produce the changes from seed to seedling and the malt producer stops this stage of the process w ...

which continued to supply all Islay distilleries, as per an agreement signed in 1987. After the closing of the distillery, the remaining dwindling stocks of Port Ellen whisky became a collectors item. Its original product was for blended Scotch, but since its closing, the whisky matured into single malt whisky. On 9 October 2017

Diageo Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...

, DCL's successor, announced that the distillery would reopen in 2020, following a £35 million investment in re-opening both Port Ellen and

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

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

, 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 reported they were going to considerable efforts to recreate as similar as possible new stills, using factory records from the 1980s, as well as having former Port Ellen employees working for them elsewhere on Islay to assist in an accurate recreation of the Port Ellen style. The Distillery build was under the management of Alexander McDonald, an Islay resident with previous positions held in Kilchoman, Lagavulin and Caol Ila distillery. In 19 March 2024, Port Ellen distillery reopened 40 years after having been closed and undergoing a £185 million (US$235m) restoration. In 2022, a rare 1979 cask of Port Ellen whisky was auctioned by

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

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 o ...

glass by artist and designer

Ini Archibong Inimfon "Ini" Joshua Archibong (born 23 June 1983) is an American-born Nigerian artist and designer. His work reflects an interest in Master craftsman, master-craftsmanship and its relationship to technology, as well as mathematics, philosophy, a ...

. 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. Port Ellen now has whisky that is currently maturing, the Port Ellen Gemini, drawn from three 1978 European oak casks.

References

Bibliography

* * Diageo Distilleries in Scotland Whisky distilleries in Islay Scottish malt whisky Port Ellen {{Coord, 55, 38, 00.24, N, 6, 11, 48.84, W, dim:50_scale:500_region:GB-SCT_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title