Tasting notes Ruben Luyten - WhiskyNotes: Score 88/100

We’re still on Islay with this Port Charlotte PAC:01, the latest limited expression in the Cask Exploration series from Bruichladdich. It is an 8 year old 2011 vintage, made from Concerto barley (40 ppm).

It was matured in first-fill American oak barrels (six years) and finished for two more years in red wine casks from Pauillac (left bank Bordeaux – both first-fill and second-fill French oak casks).

Nose: such warm, velvety coal smoke with sweet vanilla and toffee but also fresher, more medicinal and coastal notes. Lacquered meat on the barbecue. Hints of ginger lemonade with a slice of orange and some ripe melons. Oak char, brine and subtle herbal notes as well. Quite excellent.

Mouth: warm wood ashes with slightly burnt bread crust, leading to smoked ham, tar and crushed black peppercorns. It starts fairly sweet and oily, but Mediterranean herbal notes and seaweed make it drier after a while and also bring along a very subtle bitter edge. The wine is well balanced, mostly noticeable as a spicy note. Quite earthy now, with a very faint metallic touch. Some dark chocolate.

Finish: long, really sooty and ashy, with nutty notes, oak spice and a lemon / salt combination.

Another muscular, rich Port Charlotte, with a special mention for the gorgeous nose.