Whisky : Port Charlotte 11 Year BC:02 2007 (Distillery Valinch)

Country/Region : Islay

ABV : 62%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Bourbon

Age : 11 Years (Distilled 20 July 2007, Bottled 2018)

Nose : County Fairgrounds: sweet and salty caramel kettle corn, faint BBQ smoke, and the earthy aroma of horse manure.  The Bruichladdich barnyard funk comes front and center— sweet, earthy, stinky, faintly floral and grassy— there are horses, soft cheeses, and sweaty hogs.  It is like walking through the animal show at the Fair and admiring all of the entrants while the smell of BBQ and fried foods draws you back to the main thoroughfare.

Palate : Sweet, oily, and viscous the dram opens with fried bread and a dry rub packed with herbs, black pepper, and brown sugar.  The horse show begins and the dram turns more toward earthy manure, soft mud, and fruity ammonia rich horse urine.  The wife really focused in on the horse urine and manure, finding those notes took a while to get through.  In slightly more appetizing language she also compared it to mentaiko pasta— pasta with lovely salty, spicy, slightly pickled fish roe and smoked nori.  Beyond the horse and manure sat notes of dried old paper, pencil shavings, and graphite.  A few drops of water brought out a bit of vanilla and citrus as well as a load of old pencils.

Finish :  Lingering dry finish with faint sour floral notes and subdued wood spices.

Score : 4

Mental Image : County Fair : Fried Food & Amateur Rodeo.

Something Better : Port Charlotte First Cut Fèis Ìle 2007 (same sweaty horse, less manure & urine)

Something Better : Octomore 6 Year Paulliac; R&BT (similar pencils & smoked nori, more seafood grill)

Something Better : Laphroaig 21 Year; Douglas Laing XOP (similar soft cheese, more complex/savory)

Notes :  This was neither really good, nor all that bad, it was just interesting.  Interesting, but not in the way that I want to have it again and not interesting in a way that I want to sit and linger with it across multiple nights.  It was interesting, I am glad I had it, but I think I am good just seeing what else is out there.  It is a bit like a restaurant that is a bit too hip and too expensive for its own good, but you give in to the hype to check it out, the food is not bad, but not really worth the price, and you are left at the end of the night not really feeling as though you wasted money, but absolutely sure you are not going back.  

Or maybe skydiving— or any activity you do once, you are happy you did it, but you would rather not jump out of a perfectly good airplane ever again.  Or maybe a fun date with a nice person, but not someone you want to go out with again.

This dram is loaded with tons of rodeo funk— it is horse piss, shit, and mud all mixed together on a warm summer evening breeze.  The wife reckoned it was a bit like riding a horse in a parade when the horse in front of you just pauses to let out a stream of steaming yellow liquid and a wet fart.  It is sweet, it is fragrant, it is loaded with barnyard funk to the max.  There is no shortage of nostalgia wrapped up in this dram and the mix of animal smells, herbs, soft smoke, and kettle corn took me back to the county fairs I attended as a child and teen.  All those competing aromas and flavors— I can almost taste the funnel cake and smell the cow manure.

In a slightly cleaner memory, the dram reminds me of the office closet in the house I grew up.  The closet smelled of old college text books, rubber erasers, graphite, and just a hint of cat urine where a long departed cat had marked their territory.  As a young boy it was the smell of exploration, of imagination, of a wonderful walk into a closet full of books, office supplies, and possibility.  As an adult I recognize that it was really just a holding area for all the things you collect as a young adult but are loath to get rid of after how expensive they were— and the inkling that you might need them again— but no one remembers that bag of old pencils and rubber erasures so they just go buy new ones anyway.