Port Charlotte 16 YO Feis Ile 2020 - Digital Exclusive

Port Charlotte 16 YO Feis Ile 2020 - Digital Exclusive, 55.8 %

Image is (c) WhiskyBase

This is the bottling released for the (sadly) Virtual Feis Ile 2020. I entered the online ballot, and I actually “won” the opportunity to spend money on this bottling. I am very happy I did, though, as you will see when you read my notes below.

This whisky was distilled in 2003, and bottled in 2020. The bottling was limited to 300 bottles. It is the oldest official bottling of Port Charlotte from Bruichladdich so far. The casks used are summed up as follows by the distillery:

“[Our] Scottish Barley new-make was filled into three different parcels of casks. Parcel One: Refill hogsheads, re-casked into 1st fill bourbon barrels in 2012. Parcel Two: 1st fill bourbon barrels, re-casked into ex-Sauternes casks in 2013. Parcel Three: A complex assemblage of ex-sherry, ex-bourbon and virgin oak casks”

The Port Charlotte 16 YO Feis Ile 2020 - Digital Exclusive naturally sold out as it was released.

Nose: So rich and full. Get lost! I mean, lose yourself in it. Just dive in and drift away. Who cares if you ever find your way out from this liquid maze of delightful aromas. Soft wood smoke, vanilla, sweet fruits, cinnamon, toasted oak, smoked bacon and mild BBQ sauce. Wow! With time I also pick up greener notes of cut grass and tomato plant.

Taste: Rich and full-bodied. Much like the nose really. It is all perfectly in sync and in harmony here. Perhaps a bit dry on the palate at first. Dry and earthy notes of cinnamon stick and slightly bitter oranges. Wood smoke and bitter-ish oak. Underneath the smoke and peatiness there is a more delicate fruitiness - relatively well hidden though.

Finish: Long finish. Again with the cinnamon and bitter oranges. Wood smoke with earthy notes. Cinnamon and vanilla. Dark chocolate of the not so sweet but quite dry variety. Green herbs in the end.

Comment: Utterly memorable! Smoky mindfulness!

Score 93/100

Sláinte!
- Thomas