Port Charlotte tasting

[Jolly Toper]

The peaty expression from Bruichladdich distillery which has been annually released for the last four years has proven popular with fans of the Islay style, for example it has more than once been awarded best dram at Royal Mile Whiskies' 'Whisky on the Fringe'. At this tasting there is the opportunity to try back-to-back all official examples of the malt as well as two independant examples. The tasting will be held at The Tolbooth Tavern, 167 Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh at 7.30pm on Wednesdaqy 16th June at 7.30pm tickets are £18 which, if you do the maths is less than the cost of all these drams at the current bottle price. Contact me for tickets.

PC5 6038 bottles 2001 - 2006 5yo 63.5% mix of bourbon and sherry casks
PC6 18000 bottles 2001 - 2007 6yo 61.6% "Madeira cask influence"
PC7 24000 bottles 2001 - 2008 7yo 61%
PC8 25650 bottles 2001 - 2009 8yo 60.5%
"Baffo" Forever Edition no. 5 256 bottles 12.6.01 - 27.3.09 7yo cask no. 48/2001 46% specially selected by Thomas Kruger
Port Sgioba (Gaelic for Port Charlotte) 286 bottles 6.12.01 - 2.3.10 8yo cask no. 826/2001 66.0% refill sherry hogshead specially selected by FOAH

[Jolly Toper]

Still a couple of tickets left for this tasting.

Here are some tasting notes of the Port Sgioba from impartial commentators:-

Neil, Darren & Joel's tasting notes.

http://caskstrength.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... it-in.html

Port Sgioba – 8yo – Cask 826- distilled 6/12/01 – bottled 2/3/10 – 66% vol – 286 bottles

Nose: Hint of gentle smoke, slight note of farmyards and wet hay. Underneath there is a huge woody sherry note and some lovely fruity sweetness.

Palate: Minty and fresh initially, the high alcohol strength gives palate a thorough coating. It’s dry, but the sherry notes are superb, with further swirls of smoke. With water and honey notes come to the fore and further notes of peat smoke.

Finish: Lingering notes of honeycomb and the dry/fruity sherry.

Overall: Sensational drinking. This has some excellent balance between the soft peat and powerful sherry wood influence. If you’d like to try it out, contact us for details and we’ll try to hook you up with the casks owners!!

Also from Charles MacLean:-

Colour: Deep umber; dull, with blackish lights. Excellent colour. European oak ex-sherry hogshead.

Nose: Some nose prickle, but not as much as one would expect for its strength. Tarry smoke, with dried fruits and warm Xmas cake, with glace orange peel dominant. All bound up with a hard, stony, mineralic aroma, becoming earthy/mossy. With water, and immediate scent of lighter fuel, which blows off, to be replaced with more tarry smoke and later treacle toffee.

Taste: Sweetish start, with good acidity (mineralic); dries slightly, with much lingering smoke. A short finish, but a very long smoky aftertaste, with traces of linseed oil.

Comment: Showing good maturity for its 8 years, but lacking the depth and complexity which only age brings. Appropriately grubby and virile. “An interesting whisky of considerable charm and appeal – to bikers and devotees of Black Sabbath!”

More can be had at:-

http://www.thewhiskyguy.co.uk/Whisky/bl ... lin-islay/

[Jolly Toper]

Here are the results for the Port Charlotte tasting. The numbers show folk's appreciation on an ascending scale from zero (no enjoyment) to 9 (full satisfaction). The quotes are individual's comments.
.
Baffo 46% 2223444444444445556 : 43%

'Stauts Quo, okay but not much happening', 'Really fresh, bracing exciting', 'bland', 'better with water', 'good for some BBQ starters', 'smooth & elegant', 'Algeria: pretty shite really', 'no character, thin'.

PC5 22445555(5.5)666666777 : 58%

'Complex: Slade', 'nippie straight', 'needed water', 'expensive fuel', 'like dry Ardbeg, Switzerland'.

PC6 011444455555566667 : 49%

'Too complicated and heavy for me', 'well balanced', 'long & smooth finish', 'rubberfest, Honduras', 'The Darkness'.

PC7 3455555556666667 : 59%

'Farm yard, deep+', 'more rounded yet complex', 'France', 'Sade, smooth'.

PC8 13455555(5.5)666)6.5)7777778 63%

'Farm notes, well balanced', 'best flavour, subtle yet complex', 'keeps the barbie going', 'Argentina. best of the distillery range', 'Aerosmith'.

Port Sgioba 45666777778888889 : 78%

'Sherry bomb', 'a good effort, limited edition- rounds off a BBQ', 'good dram with a bit of Pink Floyd- Comforably Numb', 'Germany, a sherry peat beast phenomena'', 'superb'. 'AC/DC', 'unique, rich, interesting and it was bottled by my brother'.

Next tasting :-

24.6.10 Old/Sherried/Peaty/Rare/Unusual £22/19*
Diageo's Manager's Choice Inchgower 1993 - '09 61.9% 16yo bodega sherry cask
Laphroaig 10yo (S.M.W.S. 29.82) refill ex-Bourbon hogshead 297 bottles 56.5%
Speyburn G&M 09/77 - 12/07 43% refill sherry butt
Kilkerran batch 2 46%
G&M Imperial 1997 12yo single sherry cask cask strength
+ a mystery dram

[Nick Brown]

Interesting to see that nobody thought any of them were Spain. The best we got was Germany - a famous name from the past but now over-hyped and ultimately unsuccessful.