Distiller whisky taste #100. The first time I drank whisky was also the first time I brought a bottle of whisky. That was sometime in late 2015. The bottle, Glenfiddich 12. Now, some seven years later I find myself writing down my thoughts about these magical liquids for the 100th time. I tried to run down a list of all the whiskies I have tried that didn’t make it onto here and I come up with around 70. Including a single cask french oak Sullivans Cove. The thing is though, I had decided I was going to delve into whisky, like every amateur idiot, and didn’t really know what I was doing. I certainly didn’t have the palate or patience to be sampling or buying some of the things I did. I’d argue thats still the case. That’s 70 whiskies though, 70 whiskies that I didn’t think about or really appreciate. The last year I’ve worked on doing better and making whisky, like my geology, more of a meditative experience. In late 2016 travelling through duty free on the way back to Perth I purchased a bottle of this travel retail exclusive, Port Charlotte CC:01. It was drunk. It was enjoyed. I don’t think it was appreciated as it should have been nor understood though. Over the last year or more something in my taste memory has been telling me this was wonderful and needed to be tried again. It has taken me over a year, but I got one. Currency conversion and import duty hammered me, but I got one. Tonight, I redeem my level 1 amateur self, hit 100 considered tastes, and cash in my EXP and self-promote to level 2 whisky simpleton. N: I’ve let this first neck pour stand for around half an hour next to me. Beautiful aromas have reached me. It’s very bright and crisp. Theres gentle earthiness delivered with the soft herbaceous peat just wafting over. A more determined sniff and I find fruity sweetness, a little mustiness and some peppery tannic notes. It’s taken me a while to figure out, but yeah, theres a sack of white potatoes here too. I think this qualifies as complex. P: An initial hit of high proof warmth but with a pleasant uplifting prickle that warms all the way down. Beautifully restrained herbal peat. Enticingly thick brine that lasts through the whole profile. Sweetness comes from candied ginger and citrus peel, measured with more peat and iodine. The casks fruit and brine battle for my attention. There is a creamy mouthfeel here at times as well as slightly more aggressive woody feel. Both of these textures are delivered by a malty-funk. Everything here just works for me. I think this is great. F: So long. Salty, stone fruit, slightly woody smoke and some earthiness. A few drops of water and another 10 minutes to sit opens up the nose to bring the peat forwards and more representative of the depth of palate that follows. The palate thickens slightly, becomes darker and more like a muddy field in winter. Think about freshly ploughed fields and you might get in the frame of mind that the palate takes me to. But there is also a undertone of creamy custard that feels like a really comfortable jumper. I think this is a rare, if not singular, example of a fully cognac cask matured whisky. Eight years in that barrel. Port Charlotte 2007 CC:01 was bottled at a cask strength with 57.8% ABV, is non-chill filtered and naturally coloured. Vintage, age statement, full cask details, natural presentation, cask strength; that outstanding transparency by any measure I think. All the good stuff that Bruichladdich puts in their bottles is here. Masterful peat and excellent honesty. There is complexity here for days, and I’m sure I don’t find lots of what is to offer. This is though, not the whisky I remember from six years ago. This is better. I expected more fruit from the cognac, it’s there but I have to work to find it. I like that. A powerful whisky that demands time and attention. Criticism though, is it too complex? There is so much happening. I think I’m OK with that. Is it a little to aggressive on the heat by the end of the pour. Maybe. Importantly, was this worth the extensive hunting and overpayment? Yeah. I think this is awesome stuff. [I don’t have any rocks from Islay, I do have a few from France though. And clocking in at around 220 km from Cognac is this Retrograde Eclogite from Correze. Lovely red garnets in green omphacite with dark reaction rims to the garnets. Original high pressure metamorphism that formed this rock occurred some 420 million years ago and was uplifted (and retrogressed) to the surface around 380 million years ago. Lovely stuff]