Port Charlotte The Heretic Feis Ile 2018 Whisky Review!

My first Port Charlotte Feis Ile bottling, and also the 'last of the first' Port Charlotte - this bottling contains the last five casks that were filled in 2001, the first year of Port Charlotte distillation at Bruichladdich!

From memory this was also the first full-sized (700ml) Port Charlotte to be presented in the current bottle design & packaging, which has helped Port Charlotte finally get the attention that it always deserved. Across Bruichladdich's three "brands", the super heavily peated Octomore still gets the lion's share of the spotlight, and the unpeated namesake Bruichladdich has always been the flagship, but Port Charlotte is no longer left sitting in both of their shadows as it once was. Octomore in particular has changed massively over the last four years or so (since the 8-series, in my opinion), with a change in character and a drop in peat levels - both in terms of the ppm measurements which had always been Octomore's calling card, and more importantly in the levels of peat influence in the whisky itself. While four years is a significant amount of time, in Australia there's been a 20% price increase over that period, from $200 AUD for Octomore 8.1, which was older than most Octomore at 8-years old, to $240 for the 5-year old 12.1 that has only recently landed here - although bizarrely some retailers were recently charging a ridiculous $299 and seeming to get away with it. Meanwhile Port Charlotte 10-year old, which is bottled at Bruichladdich's standard bottling strength of 50% ABV, can be had for $100 AUD, and even the cask strength limited release Port Charlottes are far more affordable in comparison - when they officially make it down here at least, which 2020's OLC01 did not and 2021's PAC01 is still yet to arrive. As much as I love Octomore, if you ask me the former-underdog that is Port Charlotte offers far better value for money these days, and also more consistency in terms of quality between releases. It's great to see this underdog brand finally getting the recognition that it sorely deserved. And it's been quite a long road!

Back in 2001, soon after Bruichladdich was rescued and revived by Mark Reynier, Jim McEwan, Simon Coughlin & Co., the first heavily peated Port Charlotte spirit flowed from the distillery's famous tall pot stills. The malted barley used for Port Charlotte has always been peated to 40 ppm, which happens at Baird's in Inverness on the mainland, even with the Islay barley releases. That measurement puts it roughly in the same league as most of the other peated Islay distilleries, but this is not just another heavily peated Islay whisky. With the barley being malted over on the mainland - and therefore smoked using mainland peat - the character of the peat itself is quite different. And let's not forget Bruichladdich's long fermentation, and slow distillation in their tall stills using the same narrow cut points as their unpeated spirit (the same also applies to Octomore). So while the levels naturally vary between releases, the BBQ smoke, farmyard character and 'laddie trademark lactic notes that most of the good Port Charlottes show certainly separates them from the other Ileachs, often - but certainly not always - with less medicinal character as well. These are still coastal, phenolic whiskies though, and it's important to remember that Bruichladdich mature 100% of their whisky on Islay and also bottle on-site at the distillery, unlike most of their larger stablemates. Back in 2001 the plan was actually to open a second distillery, a few miles west of Bruichladdich in the village of Port Charlotte, although that never eventuated and the plan was abandoned when Remy Cointreau purchased the distillery in 2012. The pretty little village of Port Charlotte was once home to Loch Indaal Distillery that operated from 1829-1929, and was the inspiration behind Bruichladdich's Port Charlotte brand, and Loch Indaal Distillery's old dunnage warehouses behind the village are actually used by Bruichladdich to mature their three different whiskies. 

The first Port Charlotte released was the 5-year old PC5, kicking off the 'PC_' series of cask strength releases which ended with the 12-year old PC12 in 2014. During that timespan there were two different batches of 10-year old Port Charlottes that were intended to be permanent & core range bottlings, but ended up being discontinued due to stock limitations. There were also quite a few non-age statement releases in there, and a series of Valinch hand-filled distillery exclusive single casks that were named "Port Charlotte Cask Exploration". While the brand was still successful, Port Charlotte was presented in the same bottles & tins as the unpeated Bruichladdich spirit, and with similar labels & designs, which for many consumers blurred the lines between the two. That changed in 2018 with the re-launch of the Port Charlotte brand, and the new "smoke grenade" bottle and new labelling & packaging has certainly helped this whisky kick into gear, along with the re-launched 10-year old core range bottling, a few annual Islay Barley releases, and the renamed "Port Charlotte Distillery Valinch" hand-fills. Over the years there have only been a few Feis Ile bottlings of Port Charlotte - excluding some of the Valinch hand-fills that are sold during the festival, but are technically not Feis Ile festival bottlings since they aren't labelled as such. The annual Islay festival sees each distillery bottle a special release, usually unveiled on their respective open day as part of the festivities. Some of these are easier to come by than others - the Ardbeg Day bottlings are certainly the most numerous and are sold all over the world, followed by Laphroaig's Cairdeas releases which are exported to some international markets - but not Australia, sadly. The other Islay distilleries don't go to those lengths, and tend to keep their Feis Ile bottlings as actual exclusives by only selling them from the distillery itself - either the physical stores or latterly from their own websites, thanks to the pandemic. Bruichladdich's Feis Ile bottlings tend to sell out completely on the actual day of their release, often within hours of the distillery's famous iron gates being flung open, and the releases are usually smaller than that of the larger distilleries. Obviously that makes them significantly harder to find, and also therefore often more expensive on the secondary market. 

The Port Charlotte Feis Ile bottling that we're looking at today was bottled to help re-launch the brand in 2018, and is named 'The Heretic' in reference to Bruichladdich's different, more flexible & more progressive approach to whisky making when compared to most of the older Islay distilleries. That's less the case now, but back in the 2000s the rekindled Bruichladdich was quite the young upstart in comparison. The Heretic was the first Port Charlotte released in the new bottle with the new labelling, and being the last of the first, was the oldest Port Charlotte released to date. This Feis Ile bottling contains the last five casks from the first year of Port Charlotte distillation, 2001 - so this whisky is rather special! While there's technically no age statement on the label, since it was bottled in May of 2018 that puts this whisky at a minimum age of 16-years, although some of the component casks could have been 17-years old. Two of those casks were ex-bourbon, two were ex-French red wine, and one was an ex-rum barrel, with a total output of 1,300 bottles at an ABV of 55.9%. 1,300 bottles may sound like a decent amount, but it really isn't! To give some perspective there, the Feis Ile released from Lagavulin and Caol Ila are usually between 6,000-12,000 bottles, and even most of Bruichladdich's Feis Ile releases are considerably larger than this, often 3,000 bottles or more. Even 2020's "digital exclusive" Port Charlotte 16-year old - which was not a Feis Ile bottling - consisted of 3,000 bottles. So, the last five remaining casks of Port Charlotte from the first year of distillation in 2001, released to commemorate the re-launch of the Port Charlotte brand during Feis Ile 2018, and the debut of the current bottle design & packaging, and one of only two 16-year old Port Charlotte official bottlings to date. This should be good!

Port Charlotte 'The Heretic', Feis Ile 2018, 55.9%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled 2001, bottled May 2018 (minimum 16-years old) for Islay Festival. The last five casks from the first year of Port Charlotte distillation (2001), "The Last of the First": two ex-bourbon casks, two French red wine casks, and one rum cask. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 1,300 bottles. 

Colour: Gold/amber. 

Nose: Sweet, coastal and medicinal. Butterscotch, seaweed & warm sea salt. Hot tar, Russian caramel fudge, smoked bacon, damp hessian sacking. Iodine, salted honeycomb, fried cheese and peat fire embers. Big sharp fresh lemon and icing sugar around the edges with ashy peat & muddy farmyard / barnyard floors. 

Texture: Medium weight. Sweet, peaty & oily. Salty & ashy. Only very slight heat. 

Taste: Sweet entry with that butterscotch and icing sugar, then a slight of iodine, massive sea salt and big ashy peat drying things out. Green jalapeno flakes & sharp lemon, muddy barnyard floors with hay, touches of ink, smoked ham, black olives and dirty engine oil. Hints of under-ripe tropical fruit in the background. 

Finish: Very long length. More muddy farmyards, hay, ash & smoke that lingers throughout. Touch of old bandages and smoked shellfish. Loads of dried lemon, some dried herbs and more damp hessian sacking behind. Touches of honeyed maltiness and unripe melon. 

Score: 4.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Huge, powerful & medicinal Port Charlotte this. Almost like Port Charlotte and Laphroaig had a baby! But there's much more PC here than 'prhoaig, of course. This bottle has taken quite a while to relax and open up, a couple of months in fact, but it's really hit its stride now, and I'm loving it! Easily the most medicinal Port Charlotte that I've tasted to date. Very complex, quite challenging to unravel at times, and yet still very Bruichladdich. That underlying gentleness and sweetness, and the lemon & fruit notes give away this whisky's origins, but that hugely ashy, salty & medicinal power is calling the shots. We're in a very different place here compared to the 16-year old "digital exclusive" Port Charlotte from 2020. That was sweeter, lighter & fruitier, and nowhere near as medicinal or coastal. A curve ball of a Port Charlotte, as they sometimes are, and it's a cracker!

As usual with whisky, particularly high strength whisky, patience is rewarded. And it really has been here. As mentioned above this is the equal-oldest Port Charlotte official bottling released to date (tied with the aforementioned 16-year old "digitial exclusive"), and yet it's surprisingly fresh & lively, and so deep in flavour and complexity. I would've thought it would lose some of that freshness heading into these (relatively) advanced ages, at least in comparison to the 6-10 year old releases that are more commonly seen. But that's certainly not the case here. This 2018 Feis Ile bottling may have been the 'last of the first', but it hasn't been left behind by any means!

Cheers!