Bruichladdich Port Charlotte Scottish Barley Review

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte Scottish Barley - 50% abv.

I've been dying to keep making my way through the new line up of Bruichladdich which only made it to Canada at the end of June this year after having been released in many other parts of the world in September 2013.  This time, I'm covering a more widely available member of the core Bruichladdich line up: The Port Charlotte Scottish Barley.

I have to say that this Port Charlotte has a lot to live up to as the special cask strength PC releases have probably been the top choices for me as far as heavily peated whiskies go. Something that is promising is that this one is bottled at 50% alcohol which bodes well for having more of the huge flavour that the special PC releases are known for.  As a note, I drank a bottle of the Port Charlotte 10 Year Old Heavily Peated (46% abv.) but didn't get to write a review here... very quickly, it was a delicious sherried and smokey malt that reminded me very much of the PC7 in terms of flavour but I always thought it could have benefitted from slightly higher alcohol to go from great to stellar.

Back to the Port Charlotte Scottish Barley...

click photo to enlarge

Colour: 14 karat gold which indicates that this one was aged largely in american oak.  You have to view it in the bottle with lots of liquid to get the hint that there are some sherry casks used in this one (Jim McEwan confirms that there are a little bit of sherry aged casks in this one).

Nose: sweet smoke, brine, and mint come to me right away. This is promising. It smells like it has the power I feel is characteristic of PCs. A little vanilla on the nose maybe or creme brûlée or something like that.  Notes of lemon and honey join in there too.  As it opens, you get more pastry type notes on the nose.

Palate: wow that is good, honest whisky.  Comes across the tongue sweet and salty to start and then goes smokey with a long, slightly smokey-ashy finish.  There is a layer of baking type flavours like vanilla, aniseed, smoked honey, and maybe cream that then moves into smoke and black pepper that then leaves a bit of lemon peel too.  I don't know if I've ever listed this one before, but I think there is even a sharp cheddar cheese note in there that comes from combining some of the flavours together.  This is really, really good. 

Finish: long persistence that makes its way, oddly enough, about down to the heart with some warmth in the chest and throat.

When would I drink this? Honestly every day. This does make a great every day drink. I find the best times are during the day on a crisper/cooler day (outside is great with this one) and it makes a great night cap or late night dram. Ideally, I picture myself standing seaside on a cool day in the breeze with a dram of this and there is no where else I need to be. This isn't quite the level of the special PC releases but it belongs with those in my opinion and is truly worth it. If whisky like this is the direction of Bruichladdich after the big Remy buy-out, we are in great shape.