Slainte-Mhath
Port Charlotte 10 Year
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
April 5, 2020 (edited August 4, 2020)
Ardbeg Ten got some serious competition when Bruichladdich released this Port Charlotte back in 2018. On the nose, a dusty cloud of vegetal peat smoke, heather and iodine is overshadowing subtle notes of sweetness, pencil shavings and crushed mint leaves. Water accentuates licorice, citrus and seaweed. Punchy, warming and peat-driven, the taste develops towards red currants, honey and a peppery touch of refill French wine casks. The aftertaste is long and intense with lemon zest, dried herbs and lingering ashy peatiness. An efficient COVID-19 drug!
RATING: 4.0/5.0 stars ≙ 88 pts → FIRST-CLASS
50.0
EUR
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@jonwilkinson7309 I'm a fan of the PC10 as well, but lately I haven't liked it as much as I used to. Will need to do a SBS sometime with PC 10, Ardbeg 10, and Lap 10. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this :)
I loved this one—-better VFM than Ardbeg 10. Have any of you tried their MRC ( wine matured)?
Timely review! I've been intending to replace the Ardbeg 10 I finished a couple of months ago. But I'm going to hold off until I try the PC 10. As much as I like Ardbeg 10, based on the comments here it sounds like the PC might be the winner.
@cascode I have not tasted Ardbeg Ten in a long time, and some recent reviews criticize issues with batch variation. I'd probably prefer Port Charlotte 10 over a 2019 batch of Ardbeg Ten. As for the Scottish Barley, that is the information I got from many online reviews, that it was replaced by PC10.
Ill take this over Lap or Ard 10
Personally as much as I like Ardbeg 10 I'd take this one over it anytime. I agree that it is also preferable to Octomore in terms of both value and profile. I think of it as the "sensible" peated Bruichladdich, whereas Octomore is the mad one, and can be somewhat hit or miss. Is this actually the core range replacement for the heavily peated Scottish Barley, or was that simply discontinued? SB was issued from 2013-2017 but there were Port Charlotte 10 expressions in different bottle styles running in parallel to Scottish Barley all along the way.
Nice review! I agree with your assessment. I rate this one just a tick above Ardbeg10 and a tick below Lap10 and Lag16.
@PBMichiganWolverine It's the official core range replacement for Port Charlotte Scottish Barley (NAS).
Is this a regular lineup, or was it a limited?
Additonal comment: Compared to Octomore, this is a far better value. It might not be as heavily peated, but it beats many of the other Islay malts with ease.
Additional comment: Ardbeg Ten or Port Charlotte 10? I have rated both whiskies 88 points, but I have to admit that I have a slight prefence for Ardbeg Ten. This is solely due to the fact that I am not a huge fan of (bitter) French oak, although its influence is very subtle in this expression. I reviewed Ardbeg Ten back in 2016, so current batches might not be as good as they were back in the days.