In October 2007, Bruichladdich started filling casks of peated spirit named Lochindaal, after the distillery that was located in the village of Port Charlotte until 1929. The difference with their other peated whiskies lies in the peating level: Lochindaal spirit is peated to around 50 ppm, whereas Port Charlotte has 40 ppm and Octomore 80-200 ppm and more.
The Elements of Islay series now has a first Lochindaal Ln1 bottling.
Lochindaal Ln1 (62,5,6%, Elements of Islay 2016, 50 cl)
Nose: medium peat / soot with a nicely sweet, vanilla cream layer on top. Classic antiseptics. Just a very light estery / popcorn hint which probably indicates a young age. Also a few farmy touches (more with water, really great actually), menthol and a nice sea breeze.
Mouth: creamy and fairly sweet attack, quickly followed by a medicinal kind of peat. Burnt grass. Certainly not as fierce as the alcohol volume would indicate. With water more creamy sweetness, matching the deep sooty notes and a bit of chocolate. Butter toast. Vanilla. Apple peelings.
Mouth: long, clean, same balance of sweetness and smokiness.
This is a very fine, peaty, sweet and creamy version of Port Charlotte, if you like. Not too young, rather perfect in this genre. Keep your eyes peeled for Lochindaal. A tad expensive though: around € 110.
Score: 87/100