Review by: dustbunna
Bruichladdich is one of the few distilleries that seems to be reasonably priced in my current state, which is giving me a good excuse to explore some of their core offerings right now. I picked this up looking for a peated alternative to some of the heavier Islays that are in pretty constant rotation in my cabinet. Port Charlotte 10 is the standard-bearer for Bruichladdich’s “heavily peated” line (Octomore being their premium, ultra-peated line) Unusually for an Islay distillery, they use peat from the Highlands, so my expectation was that this would be quite different from the various southern species of Kildalton peat bombs. The cask breakdown, so far as I can tell, is 65% 1st-fill ex-bourbon, 10% 2nd-fill ex-bourbon, and 25% 2nd-fill French wine casks.
Distillery: Bruichladdich.
Bottler: Distillery bottling.
Region: Islay.
ABV: 50%.
Age: 10 years. Bottled in 2019.
Cask type: 65% 1st-fill ex-bourbon, 10% 2nd-fill ex-bourbon, and 25% 2nd-fill French wine.
Price: $65 USD.
Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 2 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point, italicized notes taken towards the heel.
Nose: charred/blackened meat, campfire ash, lemon-lime soda, a bit of ethanol bite, something vegetal, vanilla toffee.
Palate: oily ~ ashy smoke with more sweet lemon-lime in the background, fresh cream, water sweetens it quite a bit with more citrus and dialing down the smoke.
Finish: medium-long ~ turns surprisingly floral, like a florist shop with mint, iodine, a beautifully sweet okay note on the tail end, vanilla, some astringent tannins.
Conclusion: Delicious. Kind of unreal how close they get to Ardbeg’s profile on the nose using peat from the mainland– I had real trouble separating this one’s DNA from Ardbeg 10 or Corryvreckan by scent alone, but it reveals itself to be creamier and more floral in taste, with a floral astringency quite different from what I find in other Islays. Maybe that’s partially the cask influence, but I expect based on Bruichladdich’s famed lactic qualities in their unpeated line that it’s also in the distillate somewhat. I do wish there was a bit more development of secondary notes here, but it’s extremely consistent and really well-crafted, and at the price point there’s nothing to complain about– it’s a round and full facet of a common profile I like very much, and easily goes into rotation with Ardbeg 10/Lagavulin 8 as an excellent basic peated malt with a light touch on the casks.
Final Score: 85.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 