Feis Ile 2020 was overwhelmed, like everything else, by Covid: most of the distilleries, however, already had exclusive bottlings ready for the occasion, which were then sold online – which is definitely not like being there, of course, but in the end it is cheaper and more democratic, allowing anyone to buy those bottles, not just the flippers that buy them at the distillery and sell’em to the vans of the auction sites that stay parked just outside. Bruichladdich bottled a 16-year-old Port Charlotte, the oldest PC ever made!, matured in a mix of three parcels of barrels: refill hogsheads reracked in first fill bourbon in 2012; first fill bourbon moved to Sauternes in 2013; mix of ex-sherry, ex-bourbon, virgin oak. In short, a mix of a lot of different stuff.
N: it has a few off notes, right from the start – above all there is a note of baby vomit that is not entirely seductive but overall well integrated into the profile. Lots of sea air, rather ‘fishy’ (smoked herring), very fresh in this sense. Grilled fish, extinguished embers still dirty with fat. Little fruit, little sugar: there is some burnt bread. Apricot.
P: very oily, great texture. It’s also very ‘heavy’, both the sweetness and the burnt component are very, very loud and very ‘loaded’. Peach and apricot juice, ink, grilled fish and smoked herring. Sweet vanilla and cream.
F: burnt rosemary, cigarette smoke. It tends to menthol.
In these cases it’s hard to give an unequivocal judgement: it is a very full whisky, with the volume turned up to the maximum and the subwoofer pumping like there’s no tomorrow. It’s reminiscent of an old Golf GTI pimped out… And also for this reason we really like it, congratulations to those who bought it: 88/100.
Recommended soundtrack: Richard Cheese – The number of the Beast.
