Port Charlotte Scottish Barley Heavily Peated

I opened this bottle a few days ago and rarely pay too much attention to detail to begin with but this has been quite intrusive and demanded my full, and appreciative, attention.

This has a very peaty nose on first contact, as you'd expect/hope; but it's a familiar yet new kind of peat to me in the way, say, something like Ledaig has its own character. It's recognisably Islay and there's hints and nods to all of those I've tried, whilst offering something new and unique.

Rather than a primarily TCP or smoke hit, I'm getting more of a Tiger Balm or Winter Green note. Well not so much note as crescendo. There's some fruit there; sour pineapple and soft banana. There's also a slight bitter, minty herbal note and a touch of salt. It's clean, fresh and inviting.

Taste is very much sweet up front; the same fruit notes which seem to squish out their juice and soak your mouth - it's a decent length development where that fruit note just keeps going. Then it becomes drier and sour and leaves a distinctive white pepper and mustard note.

The peat is intense and blankets the whole experience from the start and it finishes with a very dry mineral peatyness that fades to light tannins. Quite a long one. I really like the mouth feel on this as well, it's full and juicy without being cloying or too oily.

With time or a few drops of water (I'm having this one neat but it's sat about 30 minutes) some very soft vanilla comes out.

As soon as I tried this I knew I liked it but it was certainly a little brash and youthful. Just three days later and it's already mellowed quite a bit; that edge has just softened enough. I get the sense this will keep on developing with time and air. Glad I bought this and have invested in the 10 2nd Ed on the strength of it. I think it's the crispness of it, despite such heavy phenolics, that really stands out for me, that and it is clearly well made stuff. Very good.

I enjoy my bottle of Bruichladdich Scottish Barley. It is close to The Laddie 10. This is heavily peated and BOOM, it is something special.

Port Charlotte is the Peated arm of those funky fellas at Bruichladdich. They make some lovely whisky and this is right up there. I have only tried one Octomore and whilst I wish I had tried more I think I might have found a close contender.

The colour is pale golden summer straw.

Nose – Saline, smoke, peat, fruity, lemon, pink peppercorns and sherbet drops. I could nose this all night, it is wonderful. Nicely balanced, complex yet accessible.

Soft and creamy, smoke upfront, followed by lemon, vanilla, peat comes along now and then gently warming spices.

The finish is long and of course, smoky. Surprisingly sweet and juicy.

There is a real finesse to this expression and if you like Islay it should be on your wish list. This has class and even though it's NAS it holds its own and then some against some of the better known Islay big hitters.

I'm sure I've used that title before...Anyway, those of you who know me know I have a lot of issues with Bruichladdich. However, being a bit of a peat-head, I've enjoyed their Octomore and especially their Port Charlotte expressions. Named after a nearby village, Port Charlotte is the "heavily peated" variant of Bruichladdich (what does that make Octomore, the "ass-kicking bully" variant?). Peated to 40ppm and bottled using spring water from nearby Octomore Farm, the style is said to harken back to the times when two brothers, Robert Williams and John Gourlay Harvey, built the distillery in 1881 and ran it until just before WWII. It is non-coloured and non-chill-filtered, and is made from 100% Scottish barley.

The colour is a pale gold. On the nose, smoky and briny, with lots of juicy barley sugar. Lemon meringue. Fruity with kiwi and green banana. The smoke is like from a dusty, long-spent ashtray, but in a good way! Anise and cardamom. Very complex, nicely balanced. The smoke never overwhelms despite the high peating. A drop of water brings the peat before the smoke (yes, there is a difference and you can study that with this malt). Fantastic.

On the palate it starts off almost buttery, then becomes mouth-drying as the peat becomes apparent. That lemon has now turned to pithy zest with vanilla, sage and biscuits, with the peat winding its way through everything. Mouth-warming and delicious, especially with water which turns up the volume on everything.

The finish fills your mouth with citrus, gentle sweet smoke and more herbal tea notes such as cardamom and hibiscus. This is wonderful, bracing stuff, perfect on a cold snowy day like today. On the highly pretentious Bruichladdich website you can watch a short video of everyone who works at the distillery falling all over themselves praising this whisky. I don't blame them, but McEwan says it best when he calls it "Islay in a glass." Jim Murray scores this a 94.5.