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Super fruity from the get-go. Apricot and loads of Red Delicious apple. Super buttery, creamy and moreish. Apple custard tart, bananas in cold custard, pear drops, lemon, coconut. Fruit-forward with a gentle wood dryness but a silky, round texture. Whisky writer Douglas Blyde says “banana Nesquik”, which we love! Whisky C– Kilkerran 12 Year Old
On the nose: Not smoky so much as it is ashy. Almost unbearably so, and I would consider myself a peat head. My maternal grandmother used to own a hair salon, and one of the old chairs with that bowl-shaped hair drying apparatus on it was once stored in our basement. Being from the 1960s, it naturally had an ashtray in the armrest. That’s what this whisky smells like: metallic ashtray. With time the iodine, band-aid, salt, and brine notes come out but there’s precious little fruitiness or sweetness here. There’s a little charred wood scent as well. On the nose: Wood ashes, tobacco ashes, burned leather, extremely faint caramel. Faint iodine and medical notes. When the new bottle was first introduced to the market, I had the chance of getting one and enjoyed every moment with it. This year's batch offers a well-balanced profile of malt sweetness, spicy notes and of course the famous peat. Peat is not overwhelming and it doesn't overpower any other flavors. This is a very important thing for me when it comes to peaty whiskies. Does it overpower, does it cover any character, any flavors?I remember this being quite disappointing, especially after how good the 80s/90s/early 00s versions were. Score: 3/10 Half of them were more trade-led and the other half had too many awards where it was all about how many gold medals they could deliver. Most importantly, you had to pay to enter, so then you automatically restricted [the award scheme] in terms of who could enter. Of course, a lot of the “Big Boys” enter. They have a lot of products so they choose what they’re going to enter and sadly some of the smaller brands who can’t afford to put five or ten products in, get left out. I’ve had a decent amount of Port Charlotte over the years and here on The Whiskey Jug, I’ve covered the tasty PC6, a 12-year-old Burns’ Night Port Charlotte, an older version of the Port Charlotte Scottish Barley, an older Port Charlotte Islay Barley, an OG PC10 and yesterday the Port Charlotte Islay Barley 2012. They’ve all been delicious, but this… this is something a bit different. Moving through the layers of flavor source we hit what’s possibly the single biggest source of flavor: the casks. Depending on who you talk to they’ll quote ranges from 60-80% of the ultimate flavor comes from the cask. Me, I think it’s far more complicated than some cookie-cutter answer can give and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to the question. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect.
If this was, say, a tenner less then you’d be hard-pushed to find a better-value peated whisky on the planet, but it’s certainly up there with the Ardbeg 10 and Lagavulin 16 – and way beyond anything that the eminently forgettable Laphroaig is putting out at the entry-level range. Either way, there’s just no excuse for not having this in your cupboard as your go-to peated whisky. On the nose: lovely sweet peat with just a slightly medicinal tinge to it. Old rope, hemp. A smidge of charred meats. Citrus, vanilla, walnut oil. Let that fade and there are some lovely syrupy notes, with dried apricots, orange marmalade. A hint of sun-dried tomatoes.People, I have literally reviewed over 40 Bruichladdich whiskies on Malt – what else do you want me to say about the place? When it comes to the flavor of all peated Bruichladdich it’s important to note where the peat used to smoke the barley comes from: the Scottish Highlands – not Islay. This is what gives all their peated whiskeys more of a BBQ smoke, like what you get in Ardmore, VS the more plasticy/band-aid smoke found in whiskies like Bowmore.
The relatively tall stills (for Islay that is) at Bruichladdich promote more reflux and refinement of the new-make spirit. This design makes it even harder to produce smoky and oily distillates and the Port Charlotte and Octomore product lines at Bruichladdich are a testament to the distillation team when coaxing the heavier oil-laden peated components out of the pot still and into the lyne arm before condensing. I’ll save a discussion on phenols, ppm peat levels, and all other sorts of singularly focussed, number-based arguments for another day but suffice to say Port Charlotte uses heavily peated malted barley similar to many other Islay distilleries. We then set about getting ready to taste these carefully selected finalists. Whilst Sukhinder and Dawn naturally know which whisky is which, Dawn asks us not to try and guess. Nothing in the Terms shall exclude or limit our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or for death or personal injury resulting from gross negligence or willful misconduct by us.Noticing I was spending a while looking at some unique bottles, the young and inexperienced chap working the till left his station to offer assistance. Several minutes passed of whisky-related banter, and noticing my keen interest in some bottles of Millstone on the shelf, he stated that Millstone was one of his favourite Scotches. I politely corrected him on Scotch naming requirements and the fact malt whisky can be made anywhere, the exuberant employee mentioned they had recently received a shipment of something called “is-lay barley”.
Anyone who’s taken a peek at my cellar would guess Laphroaig is my favourite distillery. I have more bottles from them than from any other whisky producer at the moment. The 10 and the Quarter Cask have been mainstays on my shelf for a many years, but there is no denying that the distillery profile has undergone significant changes. There used to be a much stronger, sweeter, and richer fruit component to the tastes, and the peat smoke wasn’t so acrid and ashtray-like. The end result is that the water:ethanol ratio in the bottle increases over time, slightly diluting the whisky and causing the oils to separate a little bit more. It’s similar to adding a few drops of water to the whisky in your glass, except instead of increasing the water volume we are decreasing the ethanol volume. Either way, the ratio of water:ethanol has increased. This can reach a critical point where too much ethanol is lost and the contents of the bottle can taste “flat”. Just like some whiskies can take a little water better than others, some can handle ethanol evaporation better than others. Let’s have a look at how well Laphroaig stands up to the process! In the mouth: Still thin and almost watery but much less hot than the first pours from the bottle. Salty, ashy, and medicinal are still the dominant flavours but there is certainly a much stronger sour lemon-lime flavour that has come out over time. The seaweed flavour is also much less raw and vegetal, more salty and “cooked” if that makes sense. Each and every Member must be of legal drinking age in its country of residence to be allowed to use the Service. If no such law exists in a Member’s country of residence, the Member has to be over 21 years old to use the Service. We have the right to ask you to provide proof of your age and/or to provide further identification to prevent underage usage and/or for any other legal or legitimate purpose. By using the Service, and by creating an account you represent, warrant and confirm that you are of legal age. Let’s have a peaty start to tasting notes for 2021 with the Port Charlotte 10 yo single malt whisky. After the dramatic year that was 2020, I want to start this year on a high note. Start as you mean to continue. Port Charlotte and the Bruichladdich distillery is no stranger on the blog.
Understanding Islay and Bruichladdich
Bruichladdich introduced The Port Charlotte 10 yo whisky as the flagship Port Charlotte expression. It’s peated to 40ppm, and drawn from a combination of first-fill American whiskey casks, second-fill American whiskey casks and second-fill French wine casks.
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