2011Port Charlotte “PAC:01” Pauillac Wine Cask Finished Cask Strength Heavily Peated Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky

(750ml) $124.99 View

 Look for a tawny hue and a distinctly coconut-driven aroma. Add water to tame the alcohol intensity and the reward is orange and dark chocolate flavors, with hints of chipotle, charred oak and saline. The finish is long, complex and delicious. It was aged eight years and finished in red wine casks from Bordeaux. 

92 points Whisky Advocate

 This year’s edition of the Port Charlotte Cask Exploration Series was aged in French oak red wine casks from Bordeaux’s Pauillac region. Sweet peat on the nose, honey, sugared banana slices, vanilla flan, barley sugar, green apple, and fresh-cut grass. The palate offers charcoal, bonfire, and pepper spice, with water taming the peat and drawing out candied lemon, orange, apricot, sweet tea, and cinnamon spice. A fiery but serenely refined peat profile. (DF, Fall 2021) 

K&L Notes

Bruichladdich has been putting out some exceptional Port Charlotte releases in their Cask Exploration Series. These have featuered the world’s finest red wine casks so far, and this release is no different. Port Charlotte PAC:01 might be the best release yet. The casks aren’t hard to identify, but for legal reasons we cannot name the wineries these come from. Suffice it to say, each one so far has been from first growth Bordeaux producers, so you’ve got 3 guesses for this release (and it may be a combination of multiple wineries). The real point is when you put great peated whisky into red wine casks of the highest quality, the results taste delicious. Port Charlotte’s signature sweet BBQ smoke and robust fruit mesh perfectly with the rich red wine influences. The 2011 distilled whisky first aged a minimum of 6 years in American Oak before being transferred into the Pauillac casks and has been bottled at a cask strength of 56.1%ABV without chill filtration.