Scotch Whiskey Review #165: Single Cask Nation Port Charlotte 14 Year 1st Fill Oloroso

Image Credit to bozkurtkarasu

Distillery: Bruichladdich

Bottler: Jewish Whisky Company

Region: Islay

Price: Many thanks to a very secretive Santa

Cask Type: 1st Fill Oloroso

Cask Number: #1142

ABV: 60.2%

Age: 14 Year. Distilled in Nov 2002, Bottled in Sept 2017

Color: 1.9, Brown Sherry.

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Nose: (according to the wife) Lots and lots of peat. There’s a very acute helping of smoke along with some burnt rubber. It’s very spicy and peppery with just a bit of sherry in the back. You get the residual note of black tea as well. (I’ll note she doesn’t like the smell of peat most of the time so she guessed that this would taste awful)

Palate: Lots and lots and lots of sherry up front. It’s rich and thick, almost having a honey-like consistency. It’s not super sweet but definitely sherry. After the sherry, it turns a bit spicy, almost like a rye whiskey. There’s lots of nutmeg and black pepper along with oak. With a few drops of water, some more fruity notes come out in the form of raisin box dust along with the spices intensifying. With some more water, the raisin dust note turns into a very sharp (and delicious) note of rum raisin (though I guess it should be sherry raisin?).

Finish: The finish is surprisingly short but it packs quite a punch. It’s very drying with an intense flavor of oak and nutmeg. With a few drops of water, it didn’t change much. With some more water, the peat came out a little bit and the finish lingered longer. With even more water, the dryness went away a bit and the spiciness/peat intensified as the finish lingered quite a bit.

Conclusion: To call this a sherry bomb wouldn’t be fair to all of the other heavily sherried whiskies you normally find. This is a sherry nuke and I love it. It’s packed full of flavor and the addition of water just elevates the entire whisky. The richness from the sherry along with the slight fruitiness from the rum raisin and the spiciness of it all realy come together in a wonderful package. Fantastically done by the folks over at Bruichladdich and at the Jewish Whisky Company. Would I buy a bottle? If I could, I would.

Final Score: 84.

Scotch Whisky Review #165, Islay Review #18, Whisky Network Review #227

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.

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