Port Charlotte PAC:01 2011 8 Year Old | Bordeaux Finish

Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky 
Distillery Bottling 70cl / 56.1%

Released in summer 2021, this is an 8-year-old Port Charlotte from the 2011 vintage finished in top drawer red wine casks from Pauillac in Bordeaux.

Port Charlotte is Bruichladdich's heavily-peated single malt - not as heavily-peated as Octomore, although it still clocks in at 40ppm phenolicity, which is higher than many of its sister Islay distilleries, and more than enough to compete with whichever fancy Pauillac claret you want to throw at it.

This particular Port Charlotte PAC:01 was distilled from Concerto barley in 2011 and constructed from two batches of casks - one batch of six-year-old Port Charlotte from first fill American oak that was finished in first fill Pauillac casks for two years; and a second batch of 7-year-old first fill American oak casks that were finished in second fill (maybe the same?) Pauillac casks.

The two batches were then vatted together to create 8-year-old Port Charlotte PAC:01 2011 and bottled at cask strength 56.1%.

Attributes

Tasting Notes

Nose: Lots of fresh, fruit aromas mingle with the dry peat smoke to entice you into the dram; from the oak comes spices – cloves, ginger and cassia, along with chocolate, toasted malt with toffee, brown sugar and delicate coconut and vanilla notes. As you nose again, the fruit notes of both the spirit and the wood come together – melon and citrus from the spirit and dried plums and raisin from the cask. The earthy peat smoke wraps around the fruit and spice and holds everything together, highlighting the wonderful marine and ozone notes that breeze through the dram.

Palate: As the first drop touches your tongue, a wave of flavours sweep across the palate, the sweetness from the oak and malt lead, followed by the smoke, citrus and dried fruit notes. Another sip helps to order the flavours, and you find the oak notes, the dried fruit, marzipan and spice. Caramel and chocolate notes emerge alongside the peat smoke with its earthy richness. A little water opens the citrus fruit and marine elements and brings out a little more of the coconut and vanilla notes from the oak. The structure on the palate is firm and round and balances the depth of flavour of this whisky.

Finish: The peat smoke comes through on the finish with a more medicinal phenol style. Coconut and floral notes waver, and a saline marine element combines with the earthy smoke in the classic Port Charlotte style. The oak’s softness and the minerality of the spirit become wrapped in smoke, a familiar signature to this dram.

Character: The depth of the oak and the harmony it creates with the smoke define this Port Charlotte cask edition’s character. Muscular and round in texture and flavour, yet with a typically dry, earthy smoke and marine breeze style, Port Charlotte.