Port Charlotte Valinch SHC01 Whisky Review!

A sherry cask-matured Port Charlotte Valinch that I brought back from Islay as a souvenir in late-2018. So you probably won't find a bottle, unless you scour the secondary auction sites. Why am I reviewing it, then? For the same reason that I review most older and/or rarer bottlings when I get the opportunity: because they're outstanding!

Sherry cask matured Port Charlotte is surprisingly difficult to find. The same applies to the distillery's unpeated Bruichladdich spirit, and even more so their super-heavily peated Octomore spirit. Bruichladdich distillery just doesn't use a lot of sherry casks these days, they much prefer wine casks, or other more exotic / uncommon types of fortified wine. And that's largely been the case since the re-opening back in 2001, with a few notable exceptions from the earlier years of "PC" bottlings, although most of those were vattings of both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Maybe the distillery saw the sherry cask shortage coming? More likely they saw a then-untapped resource in wine casks, the use of which they essentially pioneered in Scotch whisky, at least on any major scale. The Bruichladdich team has mentioned that they were not willing to settle for the short-term "sherry seasoned" casks that are relied on by many others, where the cask has been filled with sherry solely for the purpose of being emptied and sold on to the whisky industry. This means that if you do find a sherry cask matured Bruichladdich, Port Charlotte or Octomore, particularly if it's a more-recent official bottling, it'll likely be from an ex-solera cask that has been used to actually mature sherry at a Bodega / sherry house. Which usually (but not always) means it will be American oak rather than European oak, and that it may have held sherry for quite a long time, so the wine has drawn a lot of the wood influence out of the cask, and in turn the cask has soaked up more of the wine. These ex-solera sherry casks will often have a more savoury, dirty, "funky" or "rancio" flavour profile than a sherry-seasoned cask, generally with less wood tannins. These casks are also much rarer than the sherry seasoned casks, and are more expensive as a result.

If you do find a sherry cask Bruichladdich it'll most likely be an expensive limited release, something like a Feis Ile bottling e.g. Octomore Event Horizon, or an older travel exclusive e.g. Bruichladdich 1990/25, or perhaps one of the distillery exclusive "Valinch" bottlings. These hand-filled 500ml bottles are only sold from the distillery shop on Islay, for a very reasonable price, and the level of quality tends to be high. They're usually single cask bottlings, specifically selected by the production team - often Adam Hannett himself - to be sent to the 'laddie shop for thirsty pilgrims to purchase as a souvenir. And that's exactly where this particular Valinch bottle came from, hand-filled by yours truly. This whisky was one of the liquid highlights of my most recent trip to Islay, back in late-2018 (feels more like a decade ago now, though!), despite it having some very serious competition. There are usually two casks available in the shop at any given time, a cask of unpeated Bruichladdich, and a cask of heavily peated (40 ppm) Port Charlotte. The Bruichladdich cask at the time was an enjoyable teenaged ex-bourbon cask, but this Port Charlotte stood head & shoulders above the rest, even having just come from the distillery's famous warehouse tasting which includes three very generous drams - a Bruichladdich, a Port Charlotte and an Octomore - taken straight from the cask. I often take quite a while to make purchasing decisions when surrounded by limited release whiskies, particularly when faced with limited luggage space and a limited budget. But even after trying a few other examples in the 'laddie shop, there was no way this sherry cask-matured Port Charlotte wasn't coming home with me. This is absolutely one of the best examples of sherry cask matured Islay whisky that I've experienced to date.

Despite many peat-heads wishing otherwise, peated spirit and sherry casks don't always get along. Particularly in fully-matured first-fill form, one component tends to dominate the other; either the peat will be dominated by the sherry cask and the whisky loses character as a result, even with heavily peated Islay whiskies. Or on the flipside, the sherry can be dominated by the spirit and the cask influence is barely detectable, particularly if the whisky was only given a short finishing period in said cask. It seems to take very careful cask management, i.e. the right spirit from the right distillery going into the right cask for the right period of time, to pull it off successfully - and those are only the few variables that can be controlled. This is also why refill sherry casks are seen more often with peated whisky; even if the cask's first use was relatively short, the spirit will have more of a fighting chance if it's already been used for maturation. The size of the cask is also important of course, which can be offset by longer maturation. While it isn't explicitly stated, in the case of Port Charlotte Valinch SHC:01 - Bruichladdich shorthand for Sherry Cask 01 - this cask was probably a 600-ish litre puncheon, because the yield for this cask was a whopping 1,134 x 500ml bottles. Said cask was filled in October 2006, matured for 11-years in first-fill sherry cask #2134, and bottled in late 2018 at a hefty cask strength of 62.9% ABV. Obviously being a Bruichladdich product it is non-chill filtered and natural colour. This was also one of the first Port Charlotte Valinch bottlings released in the current packaging, with the stumpy green "smoke grenade" bottles and the plain white labels. The idea with this distinctive packaging was to give Port Charlotte its time in the spotlight, to make it stand out from the pack. It's definitely worked! Let's get to it.

Port Charlotte Valinch SHC:01, 11-years old, 62.9%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled October 2006, fully matured in first-fill sherry puncheon #2134, bottled late 2018. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 1,134 x 500ml bottles. 

Colour: Dark bronze. 

Nose: Massively rich & intense. A mountain of salted caramel dark chocolate, burnt seaweed, orange rind, sweet & spicy BBQ'd stone fruit, and sea salt flakes. Salted pork crackling (a.k.a. pork rinds / scratchings), earthy peat, dried shiitake mushrooms, and marmite (salty yeast extract spread). Huge!

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Massive again, but not aggressive or overbearing. And only a slight touch of heat, well integrated. 

Taste: Sweet & rich BBQ'd stone fruit, think sweet & spicy BBQ sauce with apricot, plum, nectarine, and a touch of peach). Burnt currants, more marmite spread, and loads of salted caramel dark chocolate again. Dried orange slices, earthy peat. Singed raisins, and date syrup underneath. 

Finish: Very long length. Touch of salted BBQ pork, more dark chocolate, singed raisins & burnt currants. Blow-torched orange rind, more shiitake mushrooms and burnt seaweed. Earthy peat comes through with some thick wood smoke, a little smoked vanilla, and more sweet & spicy BBQ sauce. 

Score: 4.5 out of 5. But we're very, very close to a 5. 

Notes: What an absolute stunner. This may just be my all-time favourite first-fill sherry cask Islay whisky. The balance between peat and sherry is just about spot on, despite this obviously being a very active (and very tight) cask. Likewise the balance between sweet, funk & smoke. Like I said above, peat and sherry don't always get along, particularly first-fill and fully-matured sherry. So I can certainly see why this cask of Port Charlotte was chosen as a distillery exclusive Valinch bottling. This is an extremely rich, dark, salty, funky dram, and I have no complaints whatsoever. Bruichladdich really knocked it out of the park with this one!

Am I showing a slight bias by scoring my own "liquid souvenir" so highly? Well, maybe, but this review game is always a subjective thing anyway. These might be fighting words, but only Islay can pull off a magical dram like this. I'd offer to share it with you all, but I've shared quite a bit of it already, and to paraphrase an Aussie classic the rest "is going straight to the pool room". Needless to say, if you do get a chance to try Port Charlotte SHC:01, jump on it with both feet. 

Cheers!