Last month, just a few days after releasing online exclusive Port Charlotte 16 Year Old for the virtual Fèis Ìle festival, came the next member in the PC cask exploration series, the Port Charlotte OLC:01.

We had MC:01 and MRC:01 (Marsala and Bordeaux respectively) and now comes the OLC:01 a 9 Year Old Port Charlotte which was distilled in 2010 and bottled earlier this year after being finished in Oloroso Hogsheads.

This is a major release with 30,000 bottles (at 55.1%) in circulation so it’s wildly available if you want to buy one after reading the review.

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte OLC:01 (55.1%, £90/€96.90)

Nose: Potent and lively, sweet smoke drifts, peat, dried red berries, vanilla, lactic note that disappeared after a few minutes, honey. After left to rest for a few minutes some smoked meat, cured meat, also maltiness and if you wield some wild imagination you could smell there haggis in berries sauce. After a few more minutes more sherry sweetness, more dried fruits and it’s nicely balanced. With a few drops of water the peat is tamed and there’s even more sweet fruits. Continue reading →

Is it time to review some Feis Ile 2019 whiskies? Sure it is, there’s no official season to review specific whiskies…

Let’s start with an indie bottling for Feis Ile 2019 done by Dramfool and it’s a 14 Year Old Port Charlotte in first fill Sherry hogshead which was personally selected for Ian Gray (the Scottish artist) by Jim McEwan (back when Jim was still at Bruichladdich).

299 bottles at 53.4% were produced from this cask

Dramfool Port Charlotte 14 Year Old Feis Ile 2019 (53.4%, £135)

Nose: Sweet and leathery, dried sour and sweet berries and plums (mirabelles and purple), cigar leaves, cherries filled chocolate, earthy peat, smoke. Wt dark chocolate, old library shelves, old leather and aged cigar. Continue reading →

The peated Port Charlotte whisky (from Bruichladdich distillery) is a fan favorite, very much liked just like the ultra-peated Octomores. I’ve had my share of previous official Port Charlotte limited editions and of course many independent bottlings (which I must add that many of them are excellent) But I was looking forward this kind of release, a core line-up release.

This Port Charlotte 10 Year Old was released last May and is the first on-going and permanent release of age-statement carrying Port Charlotte bottling and while I’m late in reviewing it, it kinda beat the alternative which is finishing the bottle without publishing a review.

Port Charlotte 10 Year Old Heavily Peated (50%, £48.95/€49,99)

Nose: Very smoky, blobs of vanilla and honey, then comes the BBQ meat with dripping sauce and coal smoke. The nose is quite sweet with sweet earthy peat and some sweetened bread. Greenery and fruitiness blossoms after a short while and smoke becomes drier. Continue reading →

Along with the 2011 Octomore reviewed yesterday, Dramfool also bottled a 2011 Port Charlotte for (Islay Whisky Festival 2018 (Also known as Feis Ile).

You may ask yourself how is it a 15 Year old and not 16/17 Year old, but that Ex-bourbon Hogshead (#0847) was in fact bottled December 2016 by previous owner before Dramfool snagged them a yeat later to be released now.

The hogshead yielded 195 bottles at 58.3%, no chill-filtered and natural colored.

Port Charlotte 2001 15 Year Old Dramfool (58.3%, £95)

Nose: Sweet peat (and lactic at first), vanilla and a dash of honey, sweet cured white fish meat, lots of salt. With water it opens up, some herbs, greener fruits and smoke. The peat is strong in this one. Continue reading →

I know it’s been a while since my last post on the blog, but it’s not a paying gig and there were other things that were occupying my free time. I’ll try to get back to posting on a more regular basis and I’ll start with a recap and review of the #LaddieMP5 event held by Bruichladdich last Thursday.

In case you aren’t familiar with the MP term, MP means Micro Provenance as Bruichladdich are keen on testing and exploring the impact of terroir, barley and casks on the final result and last Thursday was the 5th public MP event (hence the #LaddieMP5 hashtag) where multitude of people around the world were tasting 3 whiskies chosen especially for the events. You can see the full live broadcast right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDn5Q4zzYDY

This time it was all Port Charlotte whiskies, peated to 40 ppm (as is the usual rate for PC whiskies), all of the same age (+/- few months).

Here are the notes I gathered on the #LaddieMP5 drams:

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 10 Year Old (Fresh Bourbon cask) (56.9%, cask #1999)

Nose: starts malty and intense with promises of spices with pepper and freshly sawed oak wood. Now the peat shows up and there’s a strong feel of freshness and sweetness despite strong note of salt. A few whiffs of fish sauce like being on the beach near the fishermen with their fresh haul, honey and vanilla pudding, I did say fresh, right? Getting sweeter over time, more vanilla pudding and the peat can’t rise farther and stays relaxed with a bit of perfume and peaches. Continue reading →

Along with the surprising Laddie Eight, Bruichladdich has released a new Port Charlotte edition to the Travel Retail market to replace the PC12. The new release, Port Charlotte 2007 CC:01 was matured for 8 years, yes, both releases boast the 8, and in French casks that were previously used to mature Cognac, hence the CC in the release name (Cognac Cask).

2.5 years ago, Octomore 6.2 which was matured in Cognac casks was released and I think it’s one of the best Octomores every released. Due to timing, I have a hunch that both Octomore 6.2 and the new Port Charlotte shares the same cask heritage, but is the new and more matured PC as good as the Octomore 6.2?

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 2007 CC:01 (57.8%, £67.99)

Nose: Dry and fuzzy, peat, sweet wine, butterscotch, sticky toffee, hazelnut, burnt wood smoke (Which reminds me of the PC12).

Palate: Smoke and peat, sharper than the nose hints of, sweet wine, fruitiness, butterscotch, dry, burnt wood and sizzling charred meat.

Finish: Long finish, dry and fizzy, smoke, lingering sweet from cognac and fruit.

Thoughts: Let’s face the truth – you can’t really compare PC to Octomore, they are siblings but the gap between them is large, both in PPM and age. But even so, while I think the Octomore 6.2 is better (according to my personal taste), this new Port Charlotte is very good – It’s a different beast that leans toward the dry and smoky side with a stronger smoke note but is carefully balanced by the Cognac sweetness and fruitiness.

(Official sample provided by Bruichladdich Distillery)

I’m too busy with work and big life projects, so there wasn’t much activity on the blog, so a big apology to you my readers. In the meanwhile, until load is back to normal (sometime in September), I’ll probably stick to quick reviews and tasting notes posts.

The Port Charlotte Islay Barley was released last October and is a logical next step after the very successful and liked Scottish Barley version which I reviewed here. This time it’s pure Islay product.

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte Islay Barley 2008 (50%, £54.95/€55.95)

Nose: Starts with a strong peat note but without much bonfire smoke and then an attack of flavours. Cereal pudding, lemon, vanilla with moist fruits. After a few minutes, the peat is more refined and sharper with more smoke but it still keeps the cereal and fruity character. Continue reading →

I have something to tell you: I love Port Charlotte whisky. When Bruichladdich announced that Octomore 6.2 & PC11 will be travel retail exclusive I was quite disappointed at first but then I found out it’s heading toward our local duty free shop in TLV!

Well, as you can imagine, most of the local peat lovers grabbed a bottle (or two) and even I managed to get part of a bottle (shared with friends) 🙂

Back to the whisky itself – it’s the 7th release in Bruichladdich PC series (started with PC5), it’s heavily peated and in cask strength, so enough words and lets taste it, OK?

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte PC11 (11 YO, 59,5%, $150 in TLV Airport)

Continue reading →