port charlotte

[bamber]

I've got into 'Laddie a lot more this year. It is in my top 10 distilleries for sure now. However, I can't say I'm interested in PC 5yo.

Ardbeg and Laphroaig are proven peat monster creators, so when they produced their young offerings I was very keen to try them and they did not dissapoint.

But Bruichladdich has no recent 'form', when it comes to peated whiskies. It is the clean fruity malty nature of their stuff that appeals to me. The peated stuff they make is poorly integrated IMO.

Now for a small peaty rant:

IMO, most of these new peated whiskies are too expensive and not up to the big guns from Islay. I found that peated Benriach 10yo pretty filthy (this is the craziest score in JM's book) and the peaty Jura was nice to try, but there is no way I would consider another bottle. That new peated Edradour is ludicrously priced. It costs waaaaaaay more than the new Ardbeg OB. They need to extricate themselves from the bubble bath they are enjoying. There are other examples, I am sure.

PC 5yo. I'll pay £20 if it is CS and £15 otherwise.

[Wave]

I've always had a soft spot for Bruichladdich since it was the 1st Islay single malt whisky I ever bought, a 15yo (in a slotted wooden box) back in the early/mid 80's. A recent 15 year old 'Laddie seems better but then my tastebuds have had quite a ride in the last 20 some-odd years!


Cheers!

[Deactivated Member]

Bogha Mór – or Bogha Mòr in newspeak, I think.

The "Brook Laddie" idea is an invention of the current owners and they admitted this to me at Whisky Fringe - they said almost apologetically that I was quite right about the correct pronunciation but that it was not good for marketing. They then (second year running) described their whisky to me entirely in terms of woods and wines.

[Scotchio]

Can't say that I'm getting excited about these peated bandwaggon whiskies. Those Brook laddies ought to know better. The core expression is a classic of restrained complexity,why smother such a beauty with peat. I understand the idea of product diversification and recognise the necessity for Signatory and MM to get into their own distilleries but I'm too busy trying to get a handle on the core produce of the other 100 or so distilleries to waste my time exploring the numerous contrived variations on a theme produced at Arran, Edradour and Laddie. Glenmorangie started all this with their various finishes. I wonder what sort of Ardbeg variations will appear in the next ten years.

[Wave]

Can't say that I'm getting excited about these peated bandwaggon whiskies. Those Brook laddies ought to know better. The core expression is a classic of restrained complexity,why smother such a beauty with peat. I understand the idea of product diversification and recognise the necessity for Signatory and MM to get into their own distilleries but I'm too busy trying to get a handle on the core produce of the other 100 or so distilleries to waste my time exploring the numerous contrived variations on a theme produced at Arran, Edradour and Laddie. Glenmorangie started all this with their various finishes. I wonder what sort of Ardbeg variations will appear in the next ten years.

What is life without a little variety?
I live for variety whether it be food, song, whisky or women, it's all good!


Cheers!

[Deactivated Member]

I think the point is that there is plenty of variety when you consider the core styles of 100 or so distilleries, various ages and independent bottlings. We don't need the artificial variety of the various silly finishes, names, labels and limited editions- at least not on the scale of some distilleries.

There will come a point when the market is saturated with collectibles and they will all lose their value - as Mr Tattie Heid once said, anyone care for a Ty Beanie?

[hpulley]

Nick, if you owned a distillery and you could provide all the whisky everyone wanted, wouldn't you prefer that? Why have them buy peaty whisky from someone else if you can provide it? Why provide sherry casked whisky? Because you want to make as much money as you can!!! That is the point of a business, any and every business that wants to survive must make as much money as possible. Try to remember that it applies to whisky as well, no matter how romantic we want it to be it is actually about the mighty dollar/pound/euro/yen/yuan.

Harry

[Deactivated Member]

Gosh - normally it is me going on about market forces and suggesting others have let their hearts rule their heads.

If I had a distillery, I would try to get the maximum profit but I don't know whether the best way would be to make lots of styles of whisky or not. There must be a lot of profit in knocking out blendfodder since that's what most distilleries do. But I haven't got a distillery and I have no love for distillery owners. I am a consumer and I would prefer to use my consumer's voice to lobby and persuade distillers to do what I want, and to persuade others to join my cause.

[kildalton]

Honestly if I had a distllery I would make a good spirit for blending(that's the great part of business unless You're a real well known brand)and then I'll concentrate efforts in order of making small batches of top-class whisky for single malt lovers.

[Scotchio]

I'm not denying that it may be necessary for a company with one distillery to produce a range of brands. It increases market presence and I assume it must work for them or they wouldn't be doing it. It just surprises me that people want so many variations of one malt. If I want sherry I go to speyside,peat I go to Islay and 100 plus other styles from 100 plus other distilleries and then there are the variations of individual casks just from a sherry or bourbon, number of fills and age angle. I also like to try and get a handle on the distillery flavour profile which is less than easy with some of these finishes. There is already too much variety for me to cope with. As a footnote I would be more than interested in trying some Port Charlotte when it has matured and settled and has gained the complexity of age. I've just been nosing some early 70s Brora and Ledaig,both mature examples of heavy peating at a distillery that doesn't always use heavy peat. Both are stunning as I hope Port charlotte and these other peated variants will be in 20 years time.

[Lawrence]

I think wine finishes are receiving more attention than there is whisky of such an ilk on the market, if that makes any sense. At the end of the day we'll decide if such experiments are successful or not through our purchases. I have been hearing from various areas about a growing backlash against finishes, we'll see what happens in the future. Right now the industry is in an period of re-experimenting with various wine types, I don't expect all will last, it would be a shame not to have any more Port finished whiskies now wouldn't it??

As for the name Bruichladdich being mispronounced, it's irritating but not the critical issue. The critical issue is that the distillery and all the jobs that are place survive. Islay is a small island and 40 jobs is significant. With some education everybody can learn the correct way to same the name. I think they made an error in assuming that their customers could not pronounce the name correctly but as with many things in life education can fix that.

[Spirit of Islay]

Bogh Mor on road signs , road maps and Islay Gaelic speak i think ......

[Deactivated Member]

Then they are wrong. Neither Bogh nor Mor is a word in Gaelic. Bogha, on the other hand, means Bow or Bay (on edit - or reef), and Mór (pre-GOC) or Mòr (post GOC) means big. Bogha Mòr is given as the translation of Bowmore in the most widely used dictionary (Robertson and MacDonald 2004).

Honestly, and I don't mean to be patronising, it is better to learn Gaelic from native speakers, textbooks and dictionaries than from road signs and whisky bottles.

Edited once to add to definition of Bogha

[Spirit of Islay]

Honestly, and I don't mean to be patronising, it is better to learn Gaelic from native speakers, textbooks and dictionaries than from road signs and whisky bottles.

First off you always come across as that , especially suggesting i've only picked up any gaelic bits from whisky bottles and secondly why has the the Gaelic centre in Bowmore and the local Gaelic speakers (of who i know quite a few and have great respect for) never complained about the glaring "mistake" on Road signs , Road maps etc ?

[Deactivated Member]

OK - let's look at your "friends" at the Gaelic college in Bowmore. Their website is: http://www.ile.ac.uk/. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you'll see their address. Interesting?

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

some view into the (possible) future.

"In fact, when Jim McEwan showed me the Lomond Still he got from Dumbarton site in 2004, he also said this kind of still will produce an extremely light style of malt. But of course he hasn’t got the chance to try that yet. I heard from him that they’ll start to re-build Port Charlotte distillery next year (2007) and they’ll use the Lomond still from Dumbarton and an old pot still from Port Charlotte in the Port Charlotte distillery. Let’s wait and see what will happen."

From

http://www.whiskyfun.com/

of today, 20th October 2006 within the Mosstowie Distillery profile by Ho Cheng.

In itself great newsif it comes to pass.

Greetings
kallaskander

[Spirit of Islay]

Now thats another irritating habit you have Nick , misquoting, i said "the Gaelic centre in Bowmore and the local Gaelic speakers (of who i know quite a few and have great respect for) " not "friends at the Gaelic college in Bowmore" ,two different meanings . But the question still stands , why has the the Gaelic centre in Bowmore and the local Gaelic speakers (of who i know quite a few and have great respect for) never complained about the glaring "mistake" on Road signs , Road maps etc ?

I'm afraid someones being a bit naughty with their claim about the pronounciation of Bruichladdich , in the edtion of Michael Jacksons Malt Whisky companion printed before the Laddie buyout , he states the pronounciation to be "Brook Laddie" , admittedly other publications state it to be "Brewickladdie" .

[bamber]

[Deactivated Member]

Am I the green one or the purple one?

[corbuso]

Does anyone know when this will be available, or where from, and how much?

thanks
Snake

It should be shortly available from the standard suppliers (RMW, TWE, Loch Fyne and others), beginning November (?). It will limited to 6000 bottles worldwide and some shops have been limited in the number of bottle. Apparently, the situation is changing (maybe not as many preorder) and should be easier to obtain.
The retail price is about £50 euro 70-75

Rgds,

Corbuso

[bamber]

Am I the green one or the purple one?

I thought about that. I thought you were the green one. You strike me as the calm cerebral type of handbag jouster, whereas SOI seems to be driven more by his heart.

Certainly green is calmer than purple and hence my choice.

No offence guys

[Deactivated Member]

None taken - it made me smile.

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

it´s happened.

http://www.scottishfoodanddrink.com/vie ... st_index=0

Greetings
kallaskander

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Comming from an Irish Gaelic prespective... there are many deviations in pronunciation and actual spelling of place names in Ireland.

There are 3 main gaeltacht (Irish Speaking) regions in Ireland. And in each of these reagions Gaelic is spoken differently from the other. The spoken word is known Connemara, Ulster and Munster Irish. Munster and Connemara gaelic is quite different in a lot of ways.

However there is an official gaelic which is based on the Munster gaelic therefore the local authority may not appreciate local traditions of pronunciation (and therefore spelling) of place names in certian cases.

So I would imagine it is the same for Scotland.

[dapa]

Oh dear, are we going to fall in the trap of French wine pronunciation? Semantic polarization is the tool of elitist groups. If a great number of people are afraid of ordering whisky because of its name then the whisky will be expensive. Hence I will be broke...Go easy on us that rather drink than talk the right way! Just be a Brook-laddie, laddie!

[Deactivated Member]

Brook Laddie is a simplified and anglicized pronunciation. Call it dumbed down if you will. English speakers cannot even be bothered to pronounce "claret" and "fillet" properly, never mind "lingerie" (and never mind lingerie!). Bruichladdich and Bowmore or Bogh Mor are placenames derived from Gaelic, and are not proper Gaelic any more than Boston (St Botolph's Town) is proper English.

[Deactivated Member]

I am currently engaged in debate with Ordnance Survey over Bogh Mor.