The distillery of Port Charlotte lies two miles south of Bruichladdich facing Loch Indaal and is where the parent company’s peatier whiskies are distilled. Though the distillery was resurrected some years ago by Bruichladdich, the Port Charlotte 10 year is a recent addition to the stable of offerings. The barley used is from the Shire of Invernes, Scotland’s largest county, which covers parts of the northern Highlands and the Outer Hebrides. Even the casking is particular, with 75% of the maturation happening in first or second fill American whisky casks, and with 25% coming from second fill French wine casks. We assume that since the website does not list the exact American whiskies or French wines, it must mean there are many potential options and thus would be impossible to list for a uniform bottling expression.
Port Charlotte Islay Barley 2008
Bruichladdich has been pushing the sense of locality and terroir with their NAS offerings lately, and this Port Charlotte is no different, made with barley exclusively from the island of Islay, something the Peat Project we tried a few years ago didn’t claim, and a variant of the Scottish barley used in the Classic Laddie we recently had. The grain was harvested in 2008 from the farms at Coull, Kynagarry, Island, Rockside, Starchmill & Sunderland, then distilled that December before being aged on the shores of Loch Indaal. You’d strain to find a more local dram.