Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte Whisky

Wow, fascinating tasting this one with the usual suspects of Blair and Nick. Preconceptions shattered and scores all over the place. Stupidly I left my tasting notes at Regional (gosh, it's like I was drinking!), but I grabbed Nick's. This was the first time I'd tried Bruichladdich (pronounced Brookladdie) and I'd never heard of Port Charlotte before. So yup an interesting time awaited us.
The original distillery was closed in 1994, reopened in 2000 and the distillation is looked after by Jim McEwan (ex Bowmore).

Port Charlotte is on the location of the Lochindaal Distillery that closed in 1929, and uses equipment salvaged from another distillery.
Being an Islay there was expectation of iodine/salt and bacon flavours, but Daniel had warned us that Jim has been doing some interesting things and has carte blanche on how the whiskys are made and finished...

So let's start with the biggest surprise, my first 4 (out of 10) -the first time I've 'failed' a whisky (to be fair, we didn't go to the Whisky's of the world, where things were so bad the tasting group had a whiparound to get a decent bottle).

Yup, the 35yo 40.1% 125th anniversary American oak finished in Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal. A snip at NZ $560. I thought the nose was good, certainly suggested age, but the taste - it had gone. Nothing - it was like drinking water. Shockingly bad in fact. Nick and Blair didn't finish theirs (I don't seem to suffer from that...).

So my second favourite: Bruichladdich Rocks, I gave this an 8.5-9. Complex nose, wonderful taste, strong and huge finish. Really good complex malt this one and at NZ $90, excellent value. I found strong overtones of cognac in there (described by website as 'red wine' or 'bourbon') and it felt lovely in the mouth. Very creamy in fact.

But the pinnacle, and the first 10 I've given (in retrospect the Brora 24yo I reviewed sometime ago deserved a 10 rather than a 9.5), was the Port Charlotte PC6 6yo 61.6%. Think about that for a moment, the distillery has only been going 6 years - this is the oldest whisky they have. Last year they released the PC5 (which we didn't have) - sense a pattern? This whisky had everything. We (the three of us) couldn't believe the complexity, the intrigue, the sheer volume of different things happening. Sure it tasted strong, but not as strong as some cask bottles I've had. Very creamy. Long lingering developing finish, salty strong nose (Islay!!!). And at NZ $165... for those of you who want a cask strength whisky go buy this (if you want a cheaper one, Glenfarclas 105 10yo would be my pick).

I can't get over the variety present here. There were unusual tastes in many of the whisky's and we noticed Jim McEwan is refusing to put age on many of his malts - as he's mixing quite a few together (Rocks being an example) with excellent results. And with the most expensive whisky being one of the worst I've tried (well TBH 'boring' rather than 'worst') it emphasised that the most expensive is not always the best, and at more than 25yo you seem to be risking a lot on whether the whisky will be any good or if it will have lost its character. But still, if anyone reading this wants to buy my a 40yo Black Bowmore, I won't say no.

For those of you interested we tasted:
Port Charlotte PC6 2001-2007 6yo 61.6%
BL Rocks 46%
BL Links 46% 14yo
BL 3D 2nd edition Moine Mhor 50% -- tasted and smelt like a 10yo Laphroig
BL 15yo (our mystery malt)
BL 18yo 46%
BL 1970-2006 40.1% 35yo

me