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| Hello, that is certainly one of our (nearly) each day tastings. Santé! |
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February 20, 2025
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The Port Charlotte Case, Half 2
Already 5 PCs down the hatch, let’s hold going…
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Port Charlotte 21 yo 2001/2022 (55.7%, Malt Grain & Cane, Miles Whisky Bar, rum barrel, cask #263, 168 bottles) 
The primary classic! Right here we’re in Singapore, and there’s a reference to Bruce Lee on the label somewhat than Miles Davis. Properly, nicely… Color: white wine. Nostril: not completely positive what kind of rum cask this was, however we’re very a lot in mineral and fermentary territory—all the time a great factor. Extinguished ashes in an previous hearth, olive brine, clay, grated lemon zest… There’s a chiselled edge to this that we all the time take pleasure in. The peat isn’t large right here. With water: freshly shorn virgin wool from a sheep. An Islay sheep, after all. And a touch of recent tweed from the Islay Woollen Mill, whereas we’re at it. Mouth (neat): this is superb and has a definite ‘easternmost distillery on the south coast’ vibe. It’s additionally way more brutal than on the nostril. With water: a little bit softened however nonetheless taut and ultra-precise, on ashes, lemon, seawater, and inexperienced apple. End: a lot the identical, with maybe a couple of toasted almonds and pistachios. A touch of oyster within the aftertaste. Feedback: this one took us on a journey to Islay. Wonderful.
SGP:466 – 89 factors. |
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Port Charlotte 13 yo 2009/2022 (60.3%, Relaxation & Be Grateful, bourbon barrel, cask #511, 225 bottles)
Color: white wine. Nostril: the bourbon cask’s vanilla wraps itself round a peat that leans extra in the direction of smoked almonds and basalt, although at this power, it’s finest so as to add water… With water: much more ashes than in an previous, disused kiln. And olives! Mouth (neat): a really surprising fruitiness, largely lemon and pear, coated in a crust of herbs and smoked hay. Smoking dishes with hay stays in vogue amongst fairly a couple of cooks, and I typically discover it wonderful. With water: excellent, exact, superbly easy. Lemon, ashes, smoked fish, shellfish, and a contact of juniper. Feels nearly Scandinavian, doesn’t it? End: lengthy, all the time very exact, nearly minimalist. Lemon, ash, olives. Feedback: it loves water.
SGP:477 – 88 factors. |
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Port Charlotte 15 yo 2002/2017 ‘Double Wooden’ (59.4%, Non-public Cask Kjell Öberg, hogshead, reracked in a Haut-Brion hogshead, cask #0002, 267 bottles) 
A kind of loopy personal casks from the early days. Haut-Brion doesn’t use hogsheads, after all, and I doubt anybody would have poured twelve bottles of the well-known 1er Cru Classé into an HHD to season it, which suggests this should have been coopered utilizing some ex-Haut-Brion barrique staves. Color: younger apricot (gentle pink hues). Nostril: you possibly can nonetheless really feel the wine, with this notably earthy contact, then leather-based and pipe tobacco, with hints of prunes and candied cherries. Moderately a number of Merlot in pink Haut-Brion. Dunnage and humus. With water: it leans in the direction of stalks, pips, the backyard bonfire (sadly banned for fairly a couple of years now), but in addition fennel. Mouth (neat): actually wealthy and candy, dare we are saying even merloty, but by no means dissonant. Unimaginable not to consider cherry wooden smoke. Attention-grabbing. With water: oh, this is superb, actually full of cherry liqueur and smoked pepper. End: very lengthy, drier, extra on the Cabernet’s inexperienced pepper. Feedback: Haut-Brion is, roughly talking, 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernets. Properly, you possibly can inform. The entire stays uncommon, however very pretty.
SGP:667 – 87 factors. |
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Port Charlotte 21 yo 2003/2024 (53.4%, Acla Choice, Ski Women, barrel, cask #664) 
At all times these pretty Artwork Deco-style labels. Color: straw. Nostril: the purity of a great barrel with a tip-top distillate. It’s easy, it’s luminous, it’s apparent, it’s flawless. Lemon, seawater, ashes, peat smoke, wool, correct pizza dough, and seaweed. With water: not a lot change, however no complaints—it was excellent from the beginning. Mouth (neat): sheer perfection. Unique fruits emerge—ardour fruit, pink grapefruit—all set in opposition to peat and two or three olives. Twenty years modifications the whole lot. With water: distinctive lemony and peppery freshness, with actually magnificent bitterness, Italian-style. End: a lot the identical, lingering for fairly some time. Have our Italian pals ever considered smoking limoncello? Massimo? Feedback: twenty years in the past, we used to joke, saying, ‘it’s phenolmenal!’ Properly, twenty-one years later, it’s certainly phenolmenal.
SGP:566 – 91 factors. |
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Properly, a big a part of what got here from Bruichladdich has nonetheless been affected by wine. One other instance…
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Port Charlotte 17 yo 2002/2020 (52.3%, The Cask Whisperer, Jim McEwan’s Non-public Inventory, French pink wine cask, 218 bottles)
Pretty, although it will be good to know which French pink wine, on condition that, final I checked, we do produce greater than 12 million hectolitres of the stuff per 12 months. This comes from one more cask in Massive Jim McEwan’s private reserve. Color: gold. Nostril: somewhat mild, fairly honeyed, leaning extra in the direction of candy white wine than a daring Cabernet, Syrah or Pinot Noir, although there may be certainly a contact of blueberry jam. The remainder drifts between a comparatively gentle peat, inexperienced pepper and a few vegetal earthiness. With water: previous tweed and cherry jam. Mouth (neat): an impression of fusion—peaty whisky meets blood orange juice and watermelon liqueur, in case you’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting such a factor. With water: a stunning cocktail of peat, citrus (tangerines) and honey. End: medium size, with a advantageous freshness regardless of the pink wine, which turns more and more fruity, suppose strawberries and raspberries. Feedback: nonetheless very, superb, even when the wine hints considerably at Gamay. The peat stays somewhat mild.
SGP:656 – 85 factors. |
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It was the bourbon barrel that dominated the discussions at the moment. No shock there. We’ll see the way it seems subsequent time…
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