Plans to restore Port Ellen whisky distillery approved
Innovative plans to bring one of the world’s most famous distilleries back into production have been given the green light by planners on Islay.
The “lost” distillery of Port Ellen will be restored through a combination of heritage and originality after plans were approved by Argyll and Bute Council.
As part of the plans, the historic pagoda-style kiln house will be restored alongside the creation of state-of-the-art production buildings.
Georgie Crawford, the master distiller leading the project, said: “We are delighted to have reached this important milestone in our journey to bring Port Ellen back into production.
“We are grateful to Argyll and Bute Council and to the local community who have engaged positively with us during the planning process.
“We are incredibly excited to begin the next phase of the project and to make our long-cherished dream of restoring Port Ellen distillery a reality.”
The new Port Ellen stillhouse will bring together traditional and innovative approaches to distilling under one roof, with two pairs of copper pot stills and two separate distillation regimes.
The primary distillation regime will recreate the original spirit character of the distillery, using two stills that replicate the original Port Ellen copper pot stills.
Alongside this will be a second, smaller pair of stills that will produce alternative spirit characters, allowing the Port Ellen whisky makers the freedom to experiment with new whisky styles.
This approach to distillation pays homage to John Ramsay, who owned Port Ellen in its formative years.
His pioneering skill and dedication helped develop many of the techniques and equipment that have since become mainstays of the whisky industry.
The buildings at Port Ellen have gone through many changes since it opened in 1825, with the distillery closing and largely being demolished in the 1930s, before being rebuilt in the 1960s.
Following its most recent closure in 1983, very few of the original buildings remain. The original kiln building with its classic pagoda-style roofs and the traditional seafront warehouses will be restored.