Port Ellen 12 Year Old James MacArthur Cask Strength 59% / Scoma

James MacArthur & Co were founded in 1982 and are a no-frills independent label, focussed on bringing lesser-seen and often closed distilleries to the market. Their simple approach and fine selection of cask strength and single cask whiskies has earned them an army of fans amongst connoisseurs across the world.

Bottled for Scoma in Germany, this is one of the rarest and most sought-after bottlings of Port Ellen, one of a handful of (fairly ordinary on the surface) Scotch whiskies to have gained a near-mythical status simply due to the quality of the liquid.

Bottled a few years after the distillery's closure, this expression was released by James MacArthur at 12 years of age. This 'dark sherry' version is legendary, and scored an impressive 98 points from Serge Valentin on WhiskyFun.com. 

For decades Port Ellen was the lost jewel in the Islay crown, closed down by DCL (now Diageo) in 1983 due to an oversupply of peated whisky for blending and a perceived lack of interest in it as a single malt. However, it developed a legendary status over the years and in 2017 Diageo eventually announced plans to re-open it. The work was completed in 2024, and the first spirit was distilled in March that year. A very rare 12 year old bottled for attendees of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 is believed to have been the only distillery bottling produced in its first years of operation. Diageo have bottled more since, but it is the independent companies that have given the whisky world the best chance to sample this sought-after single malt.