XOP Port Ellen 40 Year Old 75th Anniversary 2023 (70cl, 59.1%)

This is a 40-year-old Islay single malt from the closed Port Ellen distillery, bottled by Douglas Laing under its Xtra Old Particular label at 59.1% in a 70cl bottle. It is one of six single casks chosen for the company's 75th anniversary. The spirit was distilled in September 1982 and matured in a single refill butt, cask 17544, until it was bottled in July 2023. The 290 bottles were filled by hand, without added colouring or chill-filtration. The nose combines sugary sweetness, citrus, sea air, beach notes and warm cereal. The palate is salty, with bonfire ash, peat smoke and coal dust. Smoke carries into the finish alongside soft chewed leather, chimney soot and creosote.