Port Ellen

Type: Distillery

For forty years after its 1983 closure, Port Ellen’s stills were silent while the maltings next door kept working. On 19 March 2024, the Islay distillery reopened; the first new make followed the next day. Behind the glass of its new still house, recreated historic stills now stand alongside a smaller pair built for experiment.[1][2][3][5][6]

Port Ellen, past and present

Port Ellen stands in its namesake town on Islay’s south coast. Its glass still house looks across the bay towards the Carraig Fhada lighthouse, beside a waterfront whose older warehouses preserve a tangible part of the distillery’s history.[6][11]

Three connected stories meet on this site: the distillery that stopped producing in 1983, the maltings that carried on working, and the distillery that restarted in 2024. Their histories overlap, but follow different timelines. The closure of the still house never meant the end of Port Ellen’s contribution to whisky production across the island.[4][6]

Diageo has described Port Ellen as a “ghost” distillery: one that has ceased production but still has stock available. The term captures the reputation of the closed distillery and its surviving whisky. Since the reopening, it no longer describes the whole site.[2]

From malt mill to distillery

A malt mill was established at Port Ellen in 1825. Alexander Kerr Mackay founded it with the backing of the island’s laird, Campbell. When Mackay subsequently became bankrupt, relatives John Morrison, Patrick Thomson and George MacLennan took control.[2][8][9]

The founding date remains disputed. Maltspedia and Whisky Antique identify 1825, while ScotchWhisky.com gives 1824. Both years appear in the published history; neither can serve as an uncontested anniversary date.[4][5][8]

John Ramsay’s involvement also carries two distinct dates. Accounts place his takeover in 1833; ScotchWhisky.com dates his lease to 1836, when he was 21. Ramsay ran Port Ellen until his death in 1892, and warehouses associated with him still survive.[4][6]

Story box: A distillery with two long silences

Two closures, not one

Port Ellen had already endured one long silence before the closure most closely associated with its later reputation. In 1920, the Ramsay family sold to the newly established Port Ellen Distillery Co, associated with John Dewar and James Buchanan. The distillery passed into DCL in 1925. Production stopped in 1929, followed by mothballing in 1930.[2][4][6]

The stills remained silent until 1967. Rebuilding that year brought a substantial expansion, doubling their number from two to four.[4][8]

Malting changed next. A large drum maltings was built next door in 1973 to supply DCL’s three Islay distilleries: Caol Ila, Lagavulin and Port Ellen. Traditional floor maltings continued at Port Ellen until 1974.[2][4][8]

The second closure came in 1983, as part of DCL’s rationalisation.[3][4]

Production timeline

The maltings that kept working

Supplying malt to working distilleries across Islay sustained Port Ellen’s role in the island’s whisky industry through the forty silent years after its 1983 closure.[6]

The Concordat helped secure that continuity. Dated to 1987, this agreement saw Islay distillers each take a share of malt from Port Ellen, supporting the maltings after the distillery had closed.[9]

The trade account describes Port Ellen Maltings as the only remaining commercial maltings on Scotland’s west coast and records that it continues to peat its malt. That peat use does not set a specification for every spirit made in the reopened still house.[6]

What the reopened distillery is known for

Recovering Port Ellen’s past and exploring the possibilities of smoke are the revival’s two complementary aims, according to the producer. Diageo calls its experimental theme the “Atlas of Smoke”. The still house gives each ambition its own equipment.[1][11]

The Phoenix Stills look back. Diageo describes them as precise replicas of the original stills, recreated using factory records from the 1980s and help from former Port Ellen workers. They connect the new equipment directly to its predecessors without claiming to reproduce every aspect of the old whisky.[1][6][10]

The smaller Experimental Stills feed a Ten Part Spirit Safe, which, according to Diageo, allows the team to separate several portions of the heart of a run. An on-site laboratory and resident technician analyse and catalogue the resulting new spirit.[1][2]

These tools show how Port Ellen investigates spirit character. The record contains no tasting of the new make on which to base an independent flavour profile.

At the reopening, Whisky Magazine named Alexander, known as Ali, McDonald as distillery manager. His previous roles at Kilchoman, Caol Ila and Lagavulin brought experience from elsewhere on Islay to the revived operation, linking its new chapter with the island’s working distilling community.[3]

Historic whisky and the new production

Port Ellen’s surviving stocks tell the story of its earlier production, while spirit distilled since March 2024 begins a new chapter.[2][11]

Diageo began releasing an official Port Ellen bottling annually in 2001. The trade account describes the historic cask policy as roughly 80% ex-bourbon and 20% ex-sherry. Those proportions outline earlier practice; they are not a declared maturation recipe for the reopened distillery.[6][8]

Port Ellen Gemini brings that older stock into focus through two whiskies sharing an age and cask origin, but bottled at different strengths. The twin 44-year-old whiskies were drawn from three 1978 European oak casks: Original at 54.9% ABV and Remnant at 53.6% ABV. Both belong to the distillery’s production history long before the reopening.[11]

As of the November 2026 record, whisky from the restarted production had yet to be released, and no first-bottle date had been announced.[11]

Visiting Port Ellen

Port Ellen officially reopened to the public on 19 March 2024. The producer dates the start of visitor experiences to June 2024, a separate milestone in the distillery’s return.[2][3]

Before travelling, check the producer’s current visitor information for booking requirements, accessibility and age rules. Confirm what your chosen experience includes: access to the surviving warehouses, working maltings and new still house should not be assumed to cover all three.

Where to go next

• Lagavulin: another distillery supplied by the original Port Ellen drum maltings.
• Caol Ila: follow the other named connection in that malt supply history.
• Kilchoman: explore another distillery in Ali McDonald’s professional background.

Sources

1. Diageo. Press release: Port Ellen distillery reopens after 40 years. 2024, producer’s account. https://www.diageo.com/~/media/Files/D/Diageo-V2/Diageo-Corp/press-release/2024/port-ellen-distillery-launch-press-release_-is-cr-v6-updated-comprend.pdf
2. Diageo. Port Ellen Reborn: the reopening of Islay’s legendary ghost distillery. 2024, producer’s account. https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/stories/2024/port-ellen-reborn-the-reopening-of-islay-s-legendary-ghost-distillery
3. Whisky Magazine. Port Ellen Distillery reopens on Islay. 2024. https://whiskymag.com/articles/port-ellen-distillery-reopens-on-islay/
4. ScotchWhisky.com. Port Ellen (Whiskypedia). Undated reference entry, supplied record checked November 2026. https://scotchwhisky.com/whiskypedia/2075/port-ellen/
5. Maltspedia. Port Ellen Distillery. Undated reference entry, supplied record checked November 2026. https://maltspedia.com/distilleries/port-ellen-distillery/
6. The Single Cask. Port Ellen Distillery Guide. Undated guide, supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.thesinglecask.co.uk/blogs/distilleries/port-ellen
7. Wikipedia. Port Ellen distillery. Revision not specified in the supplied record, checked November 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Ellen_distillery
8. Whisky Antique. Port Ellen. Undated reference entry, supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.whiskyantique.com/en/port-ellen
9. Scottish Delight. Port Ellen: The Phoenix of Islay. Undated article, supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.scottishdelight.com/scottish-whisky/islay-whisky/port-ellen-whisky-islay/
10. Diageo Rare and Exceptional. Port Ellen, The Trailblazing Light of Islay Returns. Undated producer’s account, supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.diageorareandexceptional.com/us/port-ellen-distillery-returns
11. Whisky Torbati. Port Ellen: Distillery Guide. Undated guide, supplied record checked November 2026. https://www.whiskytorbati.it/en/port-ellen-distillery-guide/

This desk-researched article uses fact sheet TOP-A208 and the editor’s rulings, distinguishing producer accounts from trade reporting.

Last checked: November 2026