Port Charlotte whisky stands as Bruichladdich Distillery’s tribute to the heavily peated traditions of Islay, named after the village near the distillery and inspired by the historic Lochindaal distillery that operated there from 1829 to 1929. Production began in 2001, with maturation taking place in the old warehouses at Port Charlotte, using Scottish barley and peated to 40 ppm for a robust but balanced Islay profile. The range includes core bottlings such as the 10-Year-Old and Islay Barley, alongside occasional cask explorations and limited releases, all bottled without chill filtration or artificial colouring. Despite its highly respected reputation among whisky enthusiasts, Port Charlotte is not the brand with the greatest number of bottlings, whether official or independent. It does not see a large quantity of releases each year, certainly not on the scale of some other Islay or Scotch distilleries. The approach at Bruichladdich emphasises quality, provenance, and thoughtful maturation over sheer volume, which means that every new Port Charlotte expression draws considerable interest when it appears, but they remain relatively scarce in comparison to industry giants and prolific independent bottlings. So today, we’ll review an official bottling of a private cask and two indy bottlings from the same vintage, with a Port Charlotte 2001 and two 2002 from WhiskySponge and Maltbarn.
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