Whisky : Port Charlotte 8 Year PAC:01 2011

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 56.1%

Cask : Paulliac Wine Finish

Age : 8 Year (Distilled 2011, Bottled 2020)

Nose : Fruit, smoke, and salinity.  Grilled fruits at a seaside barbecue, pineapples, guava, sausages, and sweet blackened peppers.  The sweet sugary caramelization of meaty marinades, onions, and peppers.  Mild earthy notes of ash and compost with an herbal-medicinal spice of celery seed, anise, and ginger.

Palate : Medium-bodied with notes of grilled fruits, sweet char, and earth.  Juicy and mineral-rich with sweet caramelized fruity sugars: honey crisp apples, Korean pears, and grilled squash.  Subtle strawberries and balsamic vinegar led into faint earth, ash, and clay notes.  At the end was bitter dark chocolate.

Finish :  Lingering ginger and earth.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Steak Sammie

Notes :  This was a really great Port Charlotte release with tons of interesting grill notes on the nose that reminded me of a Philly cheesesteak sandwich loaded with grilled peppers, onions, and meat.  The flavor profile was similar to the nose through a cadre of earthy notes that really took over toward the end as bitter dark chocolate wrapped the experience.  The wife picked up a certain level of sulfur on the dram which she described as “rubber balloon.”  I can definitely see where she was coming from, but those notes hung much further in the background for me.

In terms of the most recent Port Charlotte releases, I would rank this a bit below the MRC and above the OLC.  I thought this had the same clarity of flavors as the MRC, but lacked some of the depth and richness as that one.  It was much cleaner than the OLC and individual notes were much easier to pick out.

Overall, a really solid Port Charlotte.  I was lucky a friend decided to share a few drams as I still haven’t finished some of my older Port Charlotte bottles and really did not want to give into the FOMO on this.  If I did not have the MRC, or if my bottle were running low, then I would definitely stock a bottle of this to enjoy.