Port Charlotte First Cut Whisky Review!

Haven't heard of this one? Well I can't say I'm surprised, even some of the Bruichladdich die-hards haven't! This is actually the first Port Charlotte Feis Ile bottling, from way back in 2007!

First cut, ladies & gents, as in the first spirit cut on the first distillation run of the heavily peated Port Charlotte spirit at Bruichladdich Distillery. This Port Charlotte single malt was distilled on the 28th of May 2001, day one of Port Charlotte distillation and only shortly after the distillery had finally been rescued & resurrected. But that's not all folks, this was also the 2007 Feis Ile / Islay Festival bottling, released on Bruichladdich's day of the festival on the 27th of May 2007, which makes it a 5-year old whisky. If you cast your mind back to the early days of Port Charlotte, there was another five-year old whisky released around the same time, the now-legendary PC5, the first Port Charlotte released, which I've reviewed here along with the equally-legendary PC6. There are some major differences between PC5 and this First Cut bottling though, starting with the fact that PC5 was bottled in the second-half of 2006, so while both are 5-years old, PC5 is considerably younger than First Cut, and is also higher in strength and is a much larger release - 63.5% ABV and 6,000 bottles for PC5, compared to 61.5% and only 950 bottles for First Cut. But that's where things get a little confusing - First Cut has a cask number printed right there on the label, cask #007, which I would take to mean that this was a single cask bottling, and the label also states that it was matured in ex-bourbon. But, the label also states that there were 950 bottles released! Even with the Valinch-spec 500ml bottles taken into account, that would mean 475-litres of 5-year old whisky from a single ex-bourbon cask, which obviously isn't possible. There'd have to be at least two ex-bourbon hogsheads (250-litre casks) in the vatting for those numbers to make sense, without much room for angel's share / evaporation or "in-drink" - the spirit being absorbed into the wood - over the nearly 6-years of maturation. Quite the mystery, and it piqued my curiosity...

So I decided to find out! Research from the usual channels came back with nothing, it was too small of a bottling and bottled too early in this distillery's modern history for any deep-dives. So I reached out to Chloe Wood, Bruichladdich's Brand Ambassador for the Asia Pacific region, in case she could shed any light on this mysterious little bottling. I've met Chloe a few times now and already knew she would help as much as she could, but I also never expected the depth of the investigation she'd start, or the lengths that she would go to in order to find some answers! Many, if not most, brands or distilleries would have simply brushed off my enquiries, and I'm sure a few would've ignored my requests altogether - remembering that this whisky was bottled 14-years ago in relatively tiny numbers, and the distillery has also gone through a change of ownership and a number of major staff changes since then. But not so with Chloe or Bruichladdich. The outstanding level of honesty, modesty, service and responsiveness that both Chloe and the 'laddie team provide are second to none, and is a large part of why I and many others love this distillery so much - although the fact that they make brilliant whisky also helps! After a lengthy investigation Chloe has uncovered that Port Charlotte First Cut was actually mis-labelled. It was originally intended to be a single cask bottling, but the distillery team at the time realised that they were going to need more of it since 2007's Islay Festival was going to coincide with the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Port Charlotte Distillery, which was then side-lined in 2008 during the global financial crisis, although Bruichladdich still use the original warehouses from Loch Indaal Distillery. So in the end three casks were actually chosen for this bottling, all from the first distillation runs of Port Charlotte spirit, but it was too late to change the labels that had already been printed over on the mainland, so the cask number remained - that was part one of the mystery solved! But Chloe had gone above & beyond, to the point where she found the original vatting sheet from way back in 2007. And part two of the mystery surrounding this whisky involved it's surprisingly dark (natural) colour considering it's youth, and the smell & taste which were completely different to any bourbon cask Port Charlotte that I've encountered to date. And Chloe also solved this mystery, although she wasn't alone - help came from the first-hand knowledge of none other than Lynne McEwan, Bruichladdich's Global Marketing Manager and daughter of Jim McEwan, and Simon Coughlin, now CEO of Remy Cointreau's Whisky Unit, and formerly CEO of Bruichladdich. So this investigation went all the way to the top! And it turns out, aside from the number of casks used in the vatting it was also discovered that Port Charlotte First Cut was actually taken from ex-sherry casks, not ex-bourbon cask/s as printed on the label! 

Bruichladdich was a very different place back in 2007. Under private ownership and still very much in the early days of the distillery's success that we now know, finances were extremely tight, with minimal amounts of whisky from their own distillation runs ready for bottling. While there were a magnitude of different releases around at the time, the vast majority of those were obviously distilled under the site's previous owners, and in many cases also needed "cask enhancement" - laddie speak for cask finishing - to get them up to the desired standard, which is not a cheap exercise. The wider whisky industry was also a different animal to what it is today, with the gigantic spike in demand and popularity (that we're still in now) yet to hit it's stride. So it's completely understandable that an error on the label couldn't be corrected in time for this release - if they had waited and delayed there would've been no Feis Ile bottling that year, and thousands of disappointed visitors & pilgrims would've been gathering up their flaming torches & pitchforks and marching on the distillery's famous wrought iron gates. Obviously these errors are also a freak occurrence, such a thing would never happen today - in fact I highly doubt it's ever happened since! Again, the level of honesty, modesty and responsiveness here is exceptional, and I have to give a big thanks to Chloe and the team for getting to the bottom of this for me!

Most Port Charlotte releases contain wine casks to some extent, either as part of the vatting, or as a cask finish / additional cask enhancement. The distillery's long-standing penchant for ex-wine casks is a huge factor there of course, and I'd guess that it was also a way of differentiating Port Charlotte from the work of the other Islay distilleries, particularly during the days when it was packaged in the same bottles and tins as the unpeated Bruichladdich whiskies, and as a result was getting somewhat "lost in the noise" and was living in the shadows. But they were almost all red wine casks, and an ex-sherry cask matured Port Charlotte is still quite the rare beast, with only a few distillery-exclusive Valinch / Cask Exploration bottlings coming to mind - remembering that 2020's OLC:01 release (which Australia missed out on, sadly!) was only finished in sherry casks rather than being fully-matured. The main reason for this is the distillery's insistence on only using the highest quality sherry casks, to the point where they only source them from one single bodega (sherry producer) in Spain. These days with the re-branding and re-launching of Port Charlotte the brand has reached new heights and is finally getting the long-awaited attention that it deserves, and the wine cask involvement is still a major point of difference to the other Islay stalwarts, particularly in terms of their Port Charlotte core range and regular/annual release bottlings. So, a 5-year old cask strength Port Charlotte, from three ex-sherry cask/s, and bottled at cask strength of 61.5% for Feis Ile 2007. The sample for this review came from a generous fellow whisky nerd who was lucky enough to grab one of these rarities at an overseas auction. Extremely exciting!

Port Charlotte "First Cut", 5-year old, 61.5%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled 5/2001, matured in bottled 5/2007 for Feis Ile 2007. Matured in ex-sherry casks (bottles are mis-labelled, see above). Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 950 bottles. 

Colour: Amber. 

Nose: Buttery, rich & deep. Does tingle the nose hairs at 61.5%, but that's to be expected! Rich vanilla butter cake frosting, with a little lemon. Fresh aniseed, thick maple syrup, and golden pound cake (rich & dense vanilla and butter cake). Lovely ashy wood smoke, decent pinch of sea salt and some muddy seaweed. Soft earthy peat, lemon zest and a touch of mocha coffee syrup further in, topped off by a floral icing sugar sweetness. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight, oily & buttery, rich and warming. Full of flavour. Touch of heat, but barely noticeable. 

Taste: Rich, buttery arrival with more butter cake frosting, thick maple syrup and a dash of that mocha coffee syrup. Then drying ashy wood smoke followed by chunky, earthy peat and butter toffee fudge - almost Scottish tablet, but with more butter. Lemon rind and aniseed in behind. 

Finish: Long length. Make that very long. More ashy wood smoke and chunky earthy peat, waves of chocolate cake icing, fresh lemon zest and floral icing sugar. More toffee butter fudge and rich vanilla bean. Slight touch of sheep's wool (lanolin) and slighter touch of earthen farmyard/dunnage floors. 

Score: 4.5 out of 5. 

Notes: What a stunner! Incredible depth and richness for a 5-6 year old whisky. The peat is also surprisingly tame for a youthful heavily peated Islay malt, and there's no chance I would pick this as a 5-year old whisky had it been served blind. In fact I'd probably peg it somewhere between 8- and 10-years, at a guess. This is a totally different whisky to the slightly younger, but still 5-years old, PC5 that preceded it. PC5 is raw and punchy, a coastal, smoky brute in comparison with this cleaner, deeper and richer Feis Ile bottling. Even compared to my favourite Port Charlotte to date, the partly Madeira cask-matured PC6, this First Cut bottling is cleaner and calmer, and it's not far off the amazing richness of that slightly older sibling. In fact, I don't think I could pick a winner between the two! It's also vastly different to the modern Port Charlotte bottlings, this is a slightly cleaner whisky in style, with far less of that BBQ smoke and farmyard-y character that has become the brand's calling card, particularly in the more spirit-forward examples.

This First Cut Port Charlotte must have been a freak cask/s, young ex-sherry casks with loads of character and flavour. And I can certainly see why they chose this as a Feis Ile bottling. An extremely special whisky, one hell of a "blast from the past". And I love it! 

Thanks to the anonymous donour for the sample of this delicious whisky, and to Chloe, Lynne, Simon & the wider team from Bruichladdich for their help.

Cheers!

Bunnahabhain 2008 Manzanilla Cask Whisky Review!

A drier, nutty, salty whisky that has been fully matured in a dry, nutty, salty sherry cask? Yes please!

Bunnahabhain, or Bunna' for short, doesn't get the fanfare of the other Islay distilleries, and certainly isn't one of the "sexy" brands. But it still has a loyal following - and for good reason. As one of the two Islay distilleries that are mostly producing unpeated whisky, they're already something of an outlier, and even more of an underdog in comparison with the other mostly-unpeated Islay distillery, Bruichladdich. Bunnahabhain tend to be quieter and more reserved than most in their marketing, something that is also shared with Tobermory and Deanston, the other two Scotch whisky distilleries in parent company Distell's portfolio - which is soon to be purchased by Heineken. But while their presence may be more reserved, the whiskies they produce are often anything but quiet. Leaving aside the peated Moine spirit that the distillery also produces, the unpeated Bunnahabhains tend to be drier, spicier, more nutty and more austere than most, and the official bottlings tend to lean towards sherry cask maturation which can help to boost those characteristics. But they also produce a wide range of exotic cask finishings and maturations, both as Feis Ile / Islay Festival bottlings, and distillery exclusive single casks, and as limited releases that are more generally available. The likes of Brandy, Port and Marsala casks, and also PX, Amontillado and Palo Cortado sherry casks have all been released relatively recently, including this little number that we're looking at today, which is an 11-year old unpeated Bunnahabhain that has been fully matured, not finished, in Manzanilla sherry casks. Sadly most of these limited releases have not been officially imported into Australia, but a recent change of distributorship saw The Whisky List bring in a decent amount of the stuff, including the 18- and 25-year olds that also haven't been seen down under for quite some time. 

After Palo Cortado, Manzanilla sherry casks would have to be the second-rarest in the Scotch whisky industry. While real sherry can only be produced in the Jerez region of southern Spain, Manzanilla is even more specific since it must be produced in the area of the seaside city of Sanlucar de Barrameda, which forms the northern tip of the "sherry triangle", the area in Andalucía that is officially permitted to use the term "sherry". Sanlucar de Barrameda has a milder climate with higher humidity than elsewhere in the sherry triangle, which affects the natural yeast layer, known as the flor, under which the pale & dry varieties of sherry are aged. That process is known as biological ageing, while the darker and in some cases sweeter wines are produced through oxidative ageing, where that yeast layer is killed off at an early stage. The result is a very dry (often less than 1g of sugar per litre of wine), nutty, floral and saline fortified wine. The pale sherry varieties are far less common in whisky production than Oloroso or PX sherries - or more often Oloroso or PX style wines - and are more often actual ex-bodega sherry casks that have been used to mature sherry, rather than the far more common 'sherry seasoned' casks that are used for almost all distilleries. As far as out beloved Islay goes, or even in Scotch whisky for that matter, apart from Ardbeg's epic 2013 Ardbog Feis Ile / Ardbeg Day bottling, I'm not aware of any that have used Manzanilla sherry casks to any noticeable extent, with one exception: the mostly-unpeated Islay underdog that is Bunnahabhain!  

I effectively bought this bottle untested, although I had read a few European and American reviews in the past and looked longingly at the photos from the other side of the planet. The price here in Australia of around $220 AUD is not insubstantial, but for a high strength limited release Bunnahabhain that is fully matured in exotic casks, that's certainly not unreasonable. But I did have one thing to go on, since this is not the first example of a Manzanilla cask-matured Bunnahabhain that I've come across. The first example was a 200ml 'Warehouse No.9' distillery exclusive single cask bottling that a mate picked up from the distillery itself, and that whisky was magical. So when this limited release surprisingly popped up, 18 months after it was bottled, I had to grab a bottle. And it didn't take long for curiosity to get the better of me, and the cork was popped! Like many of the more austere and/or challenging styles of malt whisky, particularly when bottled at high strength, this bottle has changed substantially in the month or so since it was first opened, with first impressions containing a definite whiff of sulphur, and seeming a little flat and jumbled in smell & taste. But within a week or so it was developing very nicely. Never fully judge, or even review, a whisky on fresh opening or on the "neck pour", folks, particularly if you're having it neat! There's no mention of whether this Bunnahabhain was bottled at cask strength or if it was reduced slightly, and at 52.3% ABV it could go either way, but it's certainly plenty of strength regardless. What is mentioned though is that it is non-chill filtered and natural colour, distilled in July 2008, matured in warehouse no.9 and bottled in May 2020. Let's do it!

Bunnahabhain 2008 Manzanilla Cask Matured, 11-year old, 52.3%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled 7/2008, fully matured in Manzanilla sherry casks, bottled 5/2020. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Bronze. 

Nose: Big, dirty & funky. Loads of well-salted roasted nuts (hazelnut & walnut especially, plus a couple of almonds), dried sultanas and currants, and crushed aspirin pills/tablets. Rich dark salted caramel that is verging on burnt, with flashes of fresh dates, dark treacle toffee and a couple of honey roasted peanuts. Dirty engine oils and burnt/charred black pepper, touches of rubber and old bacon grease. 

Texture: Heavy weight, rich & flavoursome & dirty. Slight astringency & good bitterness, and no heat. 

Taste: Rich with more salted roasted nuts, thick date syrup, dried sultanas and currants again. Touch of that overcooked salted caramel (verging on burnt), bitter & earthy coffee grounds. Slight white wine-y acidity from the Manzanilla adding freshness. 

Finish: Long length. Raisin toast (spiced) with a touch of brown butter, a fresh & astringent saltiness with noticeable touches of that Manzanilla acidity. Bitter burnt black pepper & charred wood, more roasted nuts and that almost-burnt salted caramel. 

Score: 4 out of 5. On the lower side, though. 

Notes: It's a big, dirty, funky whisky, and some of the sulphur-sensitive will probably disagree with my score. But, now that it's had enough breathing time after opening the bottle, the richness and depth on offer here make for a delicious whisky. And it would (and it will) make for a delicious Christmas whisky. Big nutty, salty, caramel & dried fruit flavours that are working very well with Bunnahabhain's nutty, spicy, salty spirit, and there's a great balance between sweet & savoury. Now I'm personally not particularly sensitive to sulphur, although I have had a couple of whiskies in the past that I found extremely unpleasant or even actually undrinkable (which I won't name), but I don't mind or even enjoy a touch of that dirty sulphur character in general (Longrow 14-year old sherry cask, or some Benromach, Kilkerran and Springbank sherry casks for example). And on first opening this Bunnahabhain was headed in the wrong direction there. But it's settled down and opened up very well, that flatness has gone, and while there's still a touch of sulphur on the nose it's well integrated now and the other notes & flavours will make you forget about that quite quickly. 

Bunnahabhain is not a shy spirit, and it could easily have overpowered the more delicate Manzanilla casks - as many whiskies that are matured in these paler sherry casks do. But that delicate, acidic, floral, nutty & salty sherry has worked very well in this case. Not on the level of brilliance that the hand-filled 200ml cask sample had, of course, but for $220 AUD or so and for something different from this distillery, this Bunna' is a big yes from me. 

Cheers!