The Port Charlotte Story: A Whisky About People and Place

For most Scotch drinkers, mention the name “Islay” and the first thought that comes to mind is big peat. So, when Bruichladdich Distillery set out to reopen with its namesake being an unpeated single malt Scotch whisky, it was... well... unusual, to say the least. But the new owners were sitting on 6,000 casks of mostly unpeated whisky, and the liquid that had been produced on those stills for the past 30 years absolutely phenomenal. Why ruin a good thing? Still, at a time when an Islay whisky only needed to be distilled on the island to be called such (not aged, not bottled, not with Islay-grown barley or local peat), it was important to the team to produce a single malt Scotch whisky that felt truly representative of the island and her people. So, from day one it was in the plans for McEwan, Coughlin, and Reynier to produce a peated single malt Scotch whisky on the Bruichladdich stills.

And then there was the original distillery of Port Charlotte (known as Loch Indaal Distillery), which operated for 100 years and was well known for its smoky malt. The purpose-built distillery opened in 1829 and was central to the village of Port Charlotte, which was founded the year prior by Laird Walter Frederik Campbell of Shawfield and named after his mother, Lady Charlotte Campbell. The legend is that McEwan, in his quest to replicate that original Port Charlotte malt flavour, sought out the help of Loch Indaal stillman, Ruaridh MacLeod, who purportedly knew the taste of the spirit intimately. After many hours spent with Jim giving sample after sample of the Bruichladdich casks to Ruaridh, hoping to glean insight into the taste of the long-lost treasure of Loch Indaal, the old stillman turned to Jim and said, “Jim, I'll tell you now what it was like…!” 

Jim stood tense with anticipation, ready for the great secret of Islay to be revealed. 

“I tell you... it was good,” Ruaridh said. Then without another word, he handed Jim the glass, turned, and left.   

“It was good” was all Jim had to go on to recreate this famous spirit. That and a strong likelihood that its phenolic level would have measured about 40ppm – a classic Islay strength for peat. Jim, for his part, knew that to create something great in his own style, it would have to be distilled as slowly as possible. 

Oddly, and contrary to the intended plan, Port Charlotte was the very first spirit to be run through the newly re-opened stills at Bruichladdich. (The reason being that in the mad rush to get the distillery gates re-opened for Feis, there was a mix up with the Port Ellen maltings, and the only malt available was peated to 40ppm).  

On May 29th, 2001 at 08:26 in the morning, Bruichladdich’s 120-year-old stills ran once again. This time, with a new make spirit made from malted barley measuring in at 40ppm. 

The first Port Charlotte to be released to the public was bottled at 5 years of age in 2006: PC5 Evolution.  

Port Charlotte has always been about more than producing a traditional Islay peated whisky. It’s been about the people as much as the place. The very first release – PC5 – had a picture of Jim McEwan on it. PC6 had the distillery boys, Adam and Allan, Budgie, Neil McTaggart and John Rennie, and PC7 had a picture of the community: the people Bruichladdich worked with, like the farmers.  

“Yes, Port Charlotte is all about representing Islay as this wild and windswept place,” says Lynne McEwan, “but also the people who are resilient, resourceful, fun, outgoing, and modern, and still respectful of tradition. That's been a really important part of the Port Charlotte story. We want to show the real Islay to you, both in our whisky and the way we represent the people of this island.” 

True to the distillery’s character, Port Charlotte has its experimental side as well. Where most Islay single malt whisky is aged in bourbon and sherry casks, the Cask Exploration series benefitted from the founder’s contacts in the wine industry. The very first in this series was Valinch Seòlaid: distilled in 2002, matured in Sauternes Casks and bottled in 2014 at 53.2% ABV. After a spate of valinches came the MRC 01, aged 7 years in ex-wine casks from Bordeaux and bottled at 59.2% in 2018. Various casks were used in the coming years, including Marsala, French wine from the Pauillac region, Pomerol, Rivesaltes, Barolo, Oloroso, Sauternes, Moscatel, and my personal (or at least current) favourite: the PC SYC:01 – a mix of first and second fill bourbon and first-fill Syrah casks.  

It wasn’t only casks the team explored with – it was also barley. Their commitment to the community led them to working with local Islay barley growers. The first Port Charlotte Islay Barley was distilled in 2008 and released in 2014 all with barley harvested from eight farmers all within 15 miles of the distillery.  

And of course, there is the spectacular Port Charlotte 18-year-old (my other personal favourite). 

With such a history to build upon, the potential paths that Port Charlotte might take in the coming years are numerous. Master Blender Adam Hannett says, “I think Islay Barley Port Charlotte can play a bigger role as I see the quality in that spirit developing so well as it ages.” Whatever casks, age statements, or barley sources lie in this whisky’s future, one thing we can be sure of is that Port Charlotte will be a distinctive (and delicious) representation of Islay as a people and a place.