Port Charlotte MC:01 2009
56.3% ABV - Islay, Scotland
Nose: The first thing I detect is fruits - ripe peach and pear? An interesting burnt or caramelized sugar and straw grass (the latter surprised me a bit). I don’t see the “heavily peated” at this stage, as promised by the label… but that will come.
Taste: VERY fruity - red orchard fruits, moderate spattering of peat smoke, and some tropical notes (pineapple). Nectarine poked through for me, but it’s generally a pot of stewed fruits. This takes on water really well, which I appreciate on occasion - it’s high ABV(56.3%) but also deeply flavoured. An excellent whisky to pass the time… it will take a few more sittings to really know it. For me, the peat expresses the categories of burnt rubber, tarry, and slightly medicinal.
Finish: Dried fruits, cane sugar, slightly bittering or tannic oak, dry charred wood, citrus, Meyer lemon - the kind you can bite into, mangos and floral notes followed with spices. An earthy, diesel brand of peat lingers.
I’ll say it up front that you will have to taste this whisky alongside other similarly smoky spirits and also contrast with sweeter expressions - ex-Bourbon or ex-Sherry matured - to get a better appreciation. The variety of peat smoke flavours I’m detecting in the glass might be a bit brash for some malt maniacs, and the liquid, in general, does have a youthful kick to it (though perhaps that is emphasized in part by the high %ABV).
With a slight pinkish hue, the Port Charlotte MC:01 2009 delivers a punch of flavour; I think that they nailed the age selection. I waited too long to open this after purchase and by the time I realized there was gold nectar inside they were sold out. I’ve had this in a few sittings now - including both at home and a couple tasting events - and each time I noticed that I had focused on a different part of the flavour profile. Not unusual as the pairings, both food and drink varied, but still noteworthy; it’s a first for me, so far as I can remember.
This bottle is the infamous shipping mistake by Bruichladdich: intended for travel retail outlets, the MC:2009 showed up on shelves across BC and Alberta, Canada. We were supposed to receive the MRC:2009! No complaints from anyone - the MRC did eventually come - and the uncommon opportunity to try a peat bomb fully matured in ex-Marsala casks is fantastic. (Marsala is an Italian fortified wine - similar to Sherry - and can be dry or sweet.) As an aside, this is a great dram to offer TRE critics - I’d be curious if it gets an exception!
Tasted 4 April 2019, 24 April 2019. (Posted 29 April 2019.)
