Port Ellen

This is one of the most sorely missed of all Scottish malt distilleries. Even if the whisky made at Port Ellen had been average then there would still be high demand. However it made excellent, smoky, classic Islay malts that age well, therefore demand is very high. Port Ellen was one of 22 malt distilleries that were closed by Diageo in 1983. Along with Rosebank it is one of the closures that didn't really make much sense. Yet at the time there was a real recession and it was hard to tell what the future held. Who knows, maybe a new version of Port Ellen may come into existence in the future? The site is still in use by Diageo and the drum maltings supplies malt to the Islay distilleries and Jura distillery.