Bruichladdich Distillery - Bruichladdich Port Charlotte Pac:01 Heavily Peated Islay

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 flavors 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 flavors, 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 flavor 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 combined 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 flavor, yet with a typically dry, earthy smoke and marine breeze style, Port Charlotte.