The remains of a former ‘ghost’ distillery on Islay, an excellent source of Scottish peat whisky, are now an ultra-premium distillery with a luxurious and sophisticated blueprint.
In 1983, the flagship distillery, Port Ellen Distillery, closed due to overproduction of single malt whiskey in the area. Due to the surplus, many whiskey production sites were closed to promote the financial health of large companies.
“It was a flavor factory for making a sweet, smoky type of Islay whisky,” Ewan Morgan, Diageo North America’s national luxury ambassador and head of whiskey promotion, told Fox News Digital.
Morgan himself is a 34-year veteran of the whiskey industry. His father and grandfather had previously embarked on a long spiritual work in the same area.
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Port Ellen Gemini is a 44-year-old whiskey pulled from 30-year-old barrels. (Diageo)
“What they wanted to do in reopening Port Ellen was to create two different styles of whiskey there, keeping with the style that Port Ellen was known for,” he said. “What they wanted to do was recreate the stills to the exact specifications they had before they closed in 1983.”
Among the eight million items in Diageo’s famous alcohol archives are decades-old Port Ellen spirits blueprints.
“The original has been recreated,” Morgan said.
Although some of the features of the once abandoned distillery have been replicated, Port Ellen has been reopened with many modern improvements and functional elements.
“When you arrive, there’s a great upscale lounge there,” he said. “They have a tea service. They offer three very different types of tea that mimic the flavor and texture of the whisky, which is made in Port Ellen.”
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Port Ellen is a private oasis, so visitors must request a reservation in advance. Walk-ins are encouraged at other Islay distilleries, such as Caol IIa and Lagavulin.
“And we’ll finish by tasting some of the liquid that came out of the distillery before it closed in 1983,” Morgan said. “It’s a luxurious experience.”
While the altered structure subtly reflects Port Ellen’s haunted history, there is one timeless relic that has been crucial to the emergence of today’s whisky.
Former Port Ellen employee Ian McArthur recently retired after a notable career in whisky-making.
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“He was a big name in the whiskey world,” Morgan said. “People came from all over the world to hear his stories and taste in his warehouse.”
The remaining barrels, which Port Ellen currently uses to make its newly launched whiskey Gemini, were saved by MacArthur before the original distillery closed.
“He brought it from Port Ellen to Lagavulin, and we brought it back to Port Ellen for recent bottling,” Mr Morgan said. “So he played an important and essential role not only in the story of the distillery, but also in preserving these wonderful barrels.”
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