What comes closest to Port Ellen or Brora?

Closest to Port Ellen? Older Caol Ila. Closest to Brora? Older Longrow.

Broras: Some of the Springbanks and Clynelishes, especially the Clynes from '92. I have the Longrow 18 from 2011. That is close to some Broras.

Clynelish uses copies of the old clynelish/brora stills. So maybe you could try to add some islay peat and vat your own malt. As for Port Ellen, probably some peatier Caol Ila, but I thought the Kilchoman Loch Gorm came pretty close to the sample I tried

Port Ellen or Brora.

I am a BIG Brora fan. I never found a Clynelish bottling that came close to the real Brora - although they sometimes used the same stills. I would agree that some Longrow bottlings come close to Brora. But then I think: NOTHING comes close to my Brora. And I am VERY glad that there is still so much Brora left...

I find the Clynelish 14 distillery bottling to have good elements of Brora 30. I call it the "poor man's Brora". I've never had Port Ellen. I do love everything I've tried from Caol Ila so I now have a new mission. The ongoing older mission is to get my hands on some Rosebank.

So I'll throw my 2 cents into this discussion that seems almost over.

The easy (and most obviously correct) answer is that nothing really can recreate what Brora and Port Ellen were doing in the 70's. The main reason is that almost all of the spirit made went into blends. It really was only some of the best casks that were sold off to independent bottlers who only released it at ages between 20-30 years. There are VERY few releases of either of these mythic distilleries below 20 years of age. So we are really only seeing (and drinking and raving about) the cream of the crop from the distilleries aged far longer then is normal for a standard whisky bottling. The average age for a bottle from either of these distilleries (independent or official) is 25 year old. That is hard to compete with.

However, if you are looking for a modern equivalent of the taste profile here are my thoughts:

The general consensus is that Caol Ila comes the closest to matching Port Ellen. The obvious source for this is that: 1.) the peating level of Caol Ila is the closet to Port Ellen on Islay (Ardbeg, Lagavulin, and Laphroaig were more heavily peated. . . while all the rest were much lower). However, keep an eye on Lagavulin . . . they dropped their peating level sometime ago . . . and I think the results are beginning to be felt in the 16yo version. Who knows? If we stop thinking of it as "old Lagavulin" with the heavy smoke and peat, and instead think of it as a new version of Port Ellen . . . maybe that will take off??? Doubtful . . .

2.) Diageo considered both about equal in the 1980’s and so elected to ditch Port Ellen in favor of Caol Ila (which they had just spent a ton on money on renovating).

That said, my opinion is that the closest thing to a 24yo Port Ellen is probably a 24yo Caol Ila. Just my opinion and I have never tired them side-by-side.

Brora. It was a highly peated Highland malt from a distillery that typically produced fruity, floral and waxy Clynelish during a period when Islay was experiencing a drought.

Could you take Clynelish and add some peat? I have tired multiple times: fail. Compass Box has tried with Flaming Heart, which I have tried with high hopes: fail.

So in trying to break this down I have come to the conclusion that first you need to have a highland distiller that is using peated malt. So I have gone in search of these few distilleries. And my experience has left me with two main candidates for the modern day Brora replacement: BenRiach and Ballechin (Edradour).

1.) BenRiach does make a peated single malt in Spyeside. And some of their peated bottles have had that farmy note (without the mustard-Brora-tone that I love). More tasting will be required . . . but I have hope. The problem? Quality. The early bottles were great . . . but the stuff from the new owners doesn’t seem to be as good as the old maturing spirit.

2.) Ballechin – this is heavily peated Edradour made by a guy who once worked at Laphroaig. This sounds very much like Brora via Clynelish. The problem 1.) Edradour makes a very sweet spirit which they will need to tame. 2.) they are still experimenting with about 8 different types of casks. I have only tried one example so far . . . but immediately noted the similarities and potential to meet my heavily peated farmy malt needs. I am looking forward to a standard release . . . and then older spirit. But this could take a while. My fear is the lack of consumer interest I hear about Ballechin. I hope they don’t cease production because of it.

Other options to consider:
3.) Springbank – specifically Longrow. The big difference is that it really is a different style . . . but in an old school way. Maybe people just love that “old school style?”
4.) Bruichladdich – specifically Octomore and Port Charlotte. Sure, if you have tried one of these guys it has probably only been 5-10 years old. Give either of them until they are 20 years old . . . who knows? Octomore is farmy and delicate even at 5 years old (with crazy peating levels).
5.) Kilchoman – another farmy peaty beast that shows tremendous promise at only 5 years of age. Again, we really don’t know what Brora was like at 10 years old. There were only a hand full of 13 and 14yo bottles released by Cadenhead (usually not enjoyed as much as the 20+yo release). We are really going to need to wait on this one. But I love their philosophy and approach.

Man that was a long opinion . . .

@Nock That was indeed a long opinion, but a good one. Never made the BenRiach/Brora comparison before, quite interesting. It's hard to talk about Brora as a single product, peat levels decreased in the years towards the end of the distillery. So the 70's Brora was a bigger peat monster than the early 80's Brora.

I believe that Brora still might have a future, due to the presence of clynelish. It could be possible with the necessary investments to use the old distillery as a small stillhouse, while using the washbacks and mashtun from Clynelish. In january 2014 Diageo announced that they would do a significant investment in the clynelish distillery expending the number of washback. They could always make a few batches of highly peated Clynelish, but given the importance of Clynelish for their blends that seems highly unlikely. With stocks of Port Ellen and Brora running low, I don't think it's impossible for Diageo to find a way to keep using the name and fame of these distilleries. A third Diageo distillery on Islay seems unlikely, but with the old Clynelish/Brora largely intact, I think it might still have some future.

@Pandemonium you make a great point about the issue of peating levels at Brora. Supposedly the highest peating levels were in 1972. After that year they continually decreased the peating levels for the remainder of the 1970s. However, whiskyfun makes a note that you can find heavily peated Brora from 1981. I actually have a bottle of Brora distilled in 1981 that is very heavily peated. So the peating levels of Brora in the 1980’s (1980-1983 when it was closed) is quite varied.

So which Brora do you want to recreate? The peaty? The fruity/light peated? The waxy?

Tonight I spent a great deal of time with a Longrow CV, a heavily peated Brora 21yo from 1981 (Old Malt Cask), the Brora 25yo OB (2008), and a Talisker 25yo OB (2005).

The Longrow CV has way more rubber than Brora (and the peat is a notch or two stronger). I hear that older Longrow (at 10 years and older) loses a great deal of its peated power. So maybe older Longrow is closer to late 70s Brora - that is more lightly peated? My finding tonight is that the Longrow CV was in a totally different ball park then either Brora bottle.

However, the Talisker 25yo was dead on with the Brora 25yo. If you want that mid-70’s farmy, medium peating level of Brora you MUST get an older Talisker (25yo or 30yo). It seems about as close to anything in recreating that Brora magic. Their peating level seems extremely similar. Further, they have similar malt, wax, and mineral profiles. The main difference is that the Talisker 25yo was less fruity, and the Brora 25yo has that “Brora-mustard-tone” I get in almost all Broras.

That said, I actually enjoyed the Talisker 25yo a half notch more than the Brora 25yo. This is all my opinion, but I still hope this helps someone.