Port Charlotte OLC:01 2010

One of the distilleries that didn’t leave a very good impression after a initial tasting some time ago, but that I still intend to like. So another secondary comparison-tasting this time with “the Organic”, the “Islay Barley” and the “Port Charlotte OLC:01”. I know this kinda steps out of the line of the regular Bruichladdich bottlings but I wanted to see if I can find something that the regular expressions have in common with the heavily peated ones - basically to find out if the Bruichladdich signature character is noticeable in those peat-branches as well (Spoiler: for me they don’t) I had the regular PC 10y a few weeks ago but I didn’t like that a lot. So I wanted to see how her bigger sister is performing - and how that OLC Oloroso cask style is working. Nose: a nice and mild peat right up front, then very fruity with dark ripe berries (blackberries, black currant, blueberries), intense and vibrant, oily smoothly sweet, banana peel (with that weird dry bitterness when you bite on it), spearmint, a bid of hard cheese rind, burnt apple, a bid of apple vinegar in fact, the peat is not at all ashy or plasticy - it is clean almost subtle and very delicious (but get more intense after a while). Later (and with a drop of water): smoked fatty salmon with a slightly burned brown sugar crust with berry-apple-jam, cherry juice, the nose gets even better a bid into the dram Palate: with it 55% ABV a hot opening, then intensely sweet, fresh dry wood, the peat dominates. Later: sour prickly candy that accidentally were barbecued Finish: surprisingly short and mild, oily sweet and only a bid of peat smoke, which gets a lot stronger yet not unpleasant at all later. Really enjoyable dram. Nicely balanced for sure. Not too sweet and yet really rich. The peat really suits it BUT I really can’t make out any base Bruichladdich in it at all - it is in fact completely different. Islay? Yes for sure. But definitely unique.

I'm pretty excited to even taste this let alone review it. And I've already had a few pours! Nose - jams, meat, peat, sugar, jelly, earthy clay dirty, and so many fruity wine elements. Oh boy. Taste - I know there's a crazy blend of casks but the sherry cask is KING! Its sherry over fruity elements and this combination of smoked meat and roasted cream if that makes any sense. So much sweet up front, almost too much, and then balanced instantly with oak and dirty smoke then HUGE smoked meat and just straight up charcoal smoke. Overall, this is a completely stupidly balanced whisky. Nothing about this whisky makes sense to me. It's just all over the place and I think ultimately that's a lack of age to mellow this all. That said, it's also AMAZING, lol. I guess that's why this is so experimental. It's not a completed whisky or well put together, but instead a flavor bomb that's giving you so much and none of it is bad. I'm going 3.0 right now. I really am enjoying this, but I think my score reflects more that it doesn't make any sense to me as a premium whisky. I also think I'd buy this again at 130 and I'd think at 130 this should be a higher score for me to rebuy....so maybe I'm crazy? Anyway my 3rd whisky review of the day and honestly, all 3 were crazy challenging for me. This might be the most and that's a HUGE statement. This is however by FAR my favorite, but scores are a BIT more than just if I like it. Edit Going back, no this is 3.75 stunner stuff!

As a big fan of the Bruichladdich distillery, it’s always hard to write these without any bias. But truthfully, this is probably the lowest score I ever gave a Bruichladdich made spirit. On the nose, I struggled to get as much as of OLoroso sweetness out as I could, but maybe if I add a dash of water (which I didn’t do) it may change. Will report back once I do. Once the earthy smoke clears, which there is a decent amount of, then you got lots of nuts, maybe some hints of fruit and quite a deep earthiness to it. Down the hatch, it is a 9 year aged cask strength, so without water it will bite, but the warmth is short lived which is surprising. The campfire is strong in the beginning which I like and as it makes it’s way down, again there’s nuttiness which a slight touch of sweetness and creaminess. Personally, I think if they left this in the oloroso hogshead for another year, then this would have been a winner and a price bump would be justified. All the cask movement is so interesting, but I don’t get enough fruit for it to tell me it took in enough of the flavor. Overall it’s an enjoyable dram for winter days, but maybe I need to try it with some water to see how much of a difference I can achieve.

(The Spirits Embassy – The Bruichladdich Virtual Tasting Night, 26 March 2021). Nose: Light peat, orchard fruit, berry jam, damp hay, maple syrup Palate: Rich, oily, fragrant smoke (Applewood), fruity/jammy with some nutty/oak notes. Finish: Black pepper, slightly drying. Salt and citrus notes, with a lovely dried fruit on the finish. 9y/o, finished then finished in Oloroso sherry casks for 18months 40ppm 1 of 30,000 bottles OLC: Sherry cask - OLoroso Cask Casked in a mix of 1st/2nd fill ex-bourbon casks and Syrah vin doux naturel casks Finished in casks from Fernando de Castilla in Jerez This has a lovely jammy/peaty finish. There's a great sweet fruit note that comes through the fragrant peat smoke. Delicious!

fruity sweetness orange tangy lemon zest berry, high pep 3.25 oaky oramge citrus zest lemon peels, sourness nice balance/liken to lemon zest, thick oily complexity to it, oaky woody tail - i can give it a high rating for this but because of the woody tanin i will lower it down to 2.25 oaky woody tail, light peat 2 sweet tingy orange mandarin pep high , fruity citrus vanilla 3 acidic, spicy, orange, fruity, whacky, heavy hit on spice and pep 1 bitterness oak2 2

An all-around beautiful whisky: it’s outperforming the Octomore 12.2 that I’m having alongside of it. Shoe polish, oat, and charcoal on the nose give way to passion fruit, pepper, grape, and smoke in the mouth. It’s complex, balanced, and lingers forever.