Whisky : Port Charlotte 13 Year 2001 Sherry; Fox Fitzgerald “Rest & Be Thankful”

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 64.6%

Cask : Sherry Oak Butt (Cask R091600007) (Bottle 226/709)

Age : 13 Years (Distilled Dec. 20, 2001, Bottled Aug. 12, 2015)

Tasting : Neat in a Glencairn @ LMDW Singapore

Nose : Water color paints, wet clay, burning kiln, and nearly dry plaster— this bottle is an aromatic, earthy, dusty, art studio.  The wife found the faint sweetness and smoke to be like a burning chocolate wrapper.

Palate : Savory and rich, there is tobacco smoke, leather, and dried meat leading the way.  The art studio appears as an earthy smokey fired stone kiln full of baking clay pottery.  Rounding out the earthy notes are dried dung and a burning cow paddy.  It is faintly sweet, smokey, and rich with earth.

Finish : Long and earthy, a burning dung pile.

Score : 10

Mental Image : Opening the door to a middle school art room; wet clay, paint, and the radiating heat of a kiln full of Father’s Day pottery. 

Something Better : Octomore 5 Year Rest & Be Thankful (only barely better: more charcoal, more veggies)

Something Similar : Port Charlotte CC:01 (more tobacco, salt, pickles, spice, less earth)

Something Worse : Port Charlotte Scottish Barley (less earthy, no dung, similar grass and smoke)

Notes : Absolutely stunning.

One of our anniversary drams at La Maison du Whisky Singapore and one of the best of the evening.  The spectrum of earthy, mineral, and clay notes on this were as stunning as they were unique.  I have never had anything quite like the burning cow paddy I found inside this bottle— the sort of savory, musty, earthy, grassy smoke.  It was delicious, dung and all.

This dram was so good that when I got some good news a few weeks later regarding an upcoming university contract, that I knew this would be my celebratory bottle.  Thanks to the magic of the internet a few weeks later I had my own bottle (which is why the bottle number above and the one pictured do not match).  We have not opened it yet, it required a special occasion to taste it, another to order a bottle, and needs another special occasion to now open the bottle.

Independent bottler Fox Fitzgerald (also bottlers of the Peat’s Beast lineup) acquired some excellent casks after opening up in 2010.  The Rest & Be Thankful range seems to be home to the best casks that they got their hands on, each bottled without chill-filtration, at natural color, natural cask strength, and with just about every detail you might expect to find out printed right on the label.  There is a lot to love with R&BT and I will definitely be looking for an excuse to pick up some more.