IslayBlog.com -> 2008 ->
Thursday, 13/Nov/2008
Port Charlotte and Octomore Islay Malts
As an excuse to pour myself a wee dram of Islay whisky later this evening I thought I'd try a follow up to a few Bruichladdich related posts from the last year and a bit. Some very recent, some quite a while ago. Let me start with the more recent:
Last weekend I posted the video of me tasting the Octomore Futures Islay Single Malt Whisky. This was picked up in the Bruichladdich Blog under Octomore Titillation, where Mark also raises another interesting point about whisky futures and trust:
[...], the whisky also represents a leap of faith, a contract of trust. Trust between the purchaser of the future and the distillery. The future's owner trusts that the money will not be written off, they are going to get some special whisky at an undisclosed time in the future, and has faith that it is going to be worth waiting for.
I must admit I was a bit nervous at various stages during the ‘project’: I remember me thinking ‘do you really want to do this?’ as a I was signing the credit card slip. What if I didn't like it when it finally came out? What if the young and as yet unproven distillery went bust, would I lose all the money?
When some rumours about a sale of the distillery came up I was wondering what would happen with the Octomore futures, would Jim still be around to watch over them? As I was pouring the very first dram I thought, I thought again, ‘what if I don't like this, what will you do?’
Yet I did sign that slip and then just patiently waited for Jim to decide it was ready to be bottled. After pouring the first dram I did take the first sip confident that it would be just fine. And it was fine.
It was (and may be still is) probably an exciting time for both sides: When I picked up my case from the distillery I briefly met Jim on my way back to the car. He asked me to let him know what I thought once I had tasted it, how it went. I'm sure he must be nervous as well how his creation is received out there. I'm far from a whisky expert and others might still trash the whisky, but at least for me you have fulfilled your part of the bargain.
In the comments to the entry Takeshi mentioned that he would like to taste it but didn't know if/how he could get hold of some in Japan. Yesterday Tam the Islay Man pointed out that it is now available in the Laddieshop, swiftly confirmed in the Bruichladdich blog today: Octomore & X4 Pre Orders now available.
From the Octomore to the Port Charlotte: Another Bruichladdich whisky story I've been following in this blog in a way.
I'm not entirely sure when it went live, I've only seen it for the first time a few days ago: The Port Charlotte Project website, which contains an overview of all the Port Charlotte whiskies released so far as well as some snippets about the project to rebuild the Port Charlotte distillery. Not to forget the The Port Charlotte Distillery Project Blog.
At least to an extent I can follow that story: While I missed out on the PC5 I'm the proud owner of a (as yet unopened) ‘First Cut’ Valinch. From my summer holidays this year I brought back a bottle of PC6, which my sister had the honour to open.
Hopefully I can add a bottle of PC7 to that collection during my next visit to Islay. This 3rd and latest release of the Port Charlotte Islay Single Malt whisky is another step in the journey to maturity, it will be interesting to compare it to the PC6.
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