What we’re drinking: Port Charlotte 18 Year Old (2026 Edition), the third in a line of limited-edition single malts
Where it’s from: Established in 1881 and relaunched in 2001 after a seven-year closure, the B Corp-certified Bruichladdich is an Islay-based distillery home to four unique brands: Bruichladdich, Port Charlotte, The Botanist Gin and Octomore.
Why we’re drinking this: I’ve written a lot about Octomore, the young and heavily-peated single malt from Bruichladdich. But I haven’t touched much on Port Charlotte, a series of releases I’ve actually grown to like even more. They’re peated, but less aggressively, and undergo longer maturations.
“I think Port Charlotte is one of the unsung heroes of what we do,” says Adam Hannett, master blender at Bruichladdich. “With Bruichladdich, we’ve built it up over the years by experimenting with barley and grains and being unpeated. And with Octomore, you’ve got extreme heat and a concept that shouldn’t work. But Port Charlotte was actually us getting back into peated whisky when we reopened in 2001. Everyone was keen to make peated whisky again, because if you go back to our history, around the 1950s and early ’60s, it would have been heavily peated.”
The World’s Most Heavily-Peated Whisky Returns With a Winner
The 2025 Octomore releases include one particularly smoky standoutThere are several Port Charlotte releases, but the 18-year-old expression was only launched in 2024. Each edition has varied slightly in cask maturation — the first one was refill sherry and refill French oak wine casks, while last year offered more of an emphasis on first-fill bourbon casks (alongside sherry). For 2026, Hannett took it up a notch by using first-fill bourbon, second-fill sherry and ex-virgin oak casks. A portion of the sherry-matured spirit was recasked into first-fill red wine casks from the Rhone Valley for five years before finishing in second-fill bourbon for two years. The final component was matured in refill sherry and wine casks.
Got it? There are a lot of flavors at work here, and Port Charlotte is aiming for something complex. “If people think they don’t like peated whisky but you want them to experience all the lovely flavors peated whisky can offer, Port Charlotte is the whisky to try,” Hannett says. “It’s an elegant heat.” Let’s check it out.
How it tastes: Crafted from 100% Scottish barley, Port Charlotte 18 Year Old is malted to 40 PPM with a cask strength of 52.3% ABV.
Honestly, this whisky does a fantastic job of incorporating all of its barrel and barley influences into a cohesive sipper. It starts off with more butterscotch and vanilla notes and a creamy mouthfeel. The sweet smoke and tropical fruit from the wine barrels sneak in soon after, along with a hint of sea salt (credit Bruichladdich’s maritime location). It’s slightly dry on the finish, most likely from the virgin oak casks. A few drops of water really bring out the fruit and downplay the modest peat, too.
“It’s heavily peated, but with our style of distillation, it’s light, beautiful and offers kind of a beach bonfire heat,” Hannett says.
Fun fact: My favorite Port Charlotte release actually came out last summer. Dubbed SYC:01, the seventh release in Bruichladdich’s experimental Cask Exploration Series sees the whisky spend time in Syrah casks from a winery in Rhône, France that specializes in the creation of organic and biodynamic wines from various regions and soils. The mix of bold red fruits and tropical notes with a malty, smoky whisky is rich and flavorful.
Where to buy: Limited to 8,000 bottles worldwide, the 2026 edition of Port Charlotte 18 Year Old is available now for $200.
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