Port Charlotte Blood Tubs

Introduction

I’m a fan of bold, powerful whiskies, particularly those at cask strength with intense peat and significant cask influence. While I’ve had some stunning bourbon casks, my preference often leans towards a heavily peated sherry cask from Port Charlotte. Tobias might say I have a narrow focus, but I’d argue that I simply know what excellent whisky looks like. 🙂

Port Charlotte has captured my heart ever since I first tasted it at Whiskyfair Nuremberg in 2016. That day, I asked Peter from the Whisky Club of Austria for something exceptional I hadn’t yet tried, and he introduced me to a Port Charlotte aged for 10 ears in Olorosso Sherry and bottled by Meadowside Blending / Maltman. The experience was eye-opening, leaving me to wonder why I hadn’t discovered this distillery earlier. At the time, my preferences were heavily skewed towards Highland Park and Talisker—so perhaps Tobias was right about my overly narrow focus…

As time has passed, I’ve continued to appreciate other distilleries, but Port Charlotte has firmly established itself as the focus of for my tastings and collection.

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Closure and Revival of Port Charlotte

As you might know, the original Port Charlotte distillery was closed in 1929. Unfortunately, unlike the nearby Lochindaal Distillery, which also closed that same year and has had some remaining bottles surface over the years, it appears that no bottles of “real” Port Charlotte have ever resurfaced. In fact, it’s unclear if any single bottles were ever produced at all. Fortunately, Bruichladdich “revived” the brand as its first peated expression and began distillation at 40 PPM in June 2001.

The original Port Charlotte / Lochindaal distillery. Image courtesy of Bruichladdich.

What is a Blood Tub?

As part of the reopening, Bruichladdich offered a special promotion in 2001/2002 featuring a limited number of very special, small casks—referred to as “Blood Tubs.” Priced at £195 (approximately 320€ at the 2001 exchange rate), these 32-liter casks contained either Bruichladdich or Port Charlotte distillate. The casks sold out quickly, and it is unclear how many were actually sold. Although small by normal standards, these casks were stored in the old Loch Indaal Distillery warehouse in Port Charlotte. Some of the casks were leaking, so by 2004, the first cask owners decided to bottle their whisky. Despite being quite early by conventional standards, the small cask size led to a hyper-accelerated maturation of the whisky. The substantial wood exposure due to the small size yielded amazing and truly special results, making history. Most casks were bottled at cask strength, though a few owners opted for the more drinkable 46% ABV. The total number of bottles per cask varied from 24 to 48.

What is so special about these bottles?

Before the era of Whiskybase, I relied heavily on Whiskyfun for guidance. Notably, Serge’s top-rated Port Charlottes happen to be two privately bottled Blood Tubs, one by Gordon Homer and one by Alan Robinson, both awarded a stellar 94 points. Intrigued by the tasting notes, the extremely low number of bottles, and the excellent reviews—particularly given the very young age at which the casks were bottled—it took me years until I was finally able to taste a sample, and it definitely lived up to the hype. Over the years, I developed a deep love for these specific casks and their unique style. As my collection and the number of bottles I tasted slowly grew, it also became increasingly difficult to find more information. Hence, I decided to create this small page to compile all available information on these casks, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of all known Port Charlotte Blood Tubs.

As of April 2024, I have gathered information on 27 Port Charlotte Blood Tubs, but I hope this number will continue to grow over time. Since I have occasionally found bottles/casks previously unknown, I am quite sure there are more undiscovered casks out there. For example, if you see cask numbers 36, 37, 38, and 40, it suggests that cask 39 is likely out there somewhere, waiting to be found.

If you have any information about these elusive Blood Tubs, or if you have owned a cask yourself, I would greatly appreciate it if you reached out to me christian{a)keinehalbendrinks.de . I am always eager to connect with fellow enthusiasts, and am open to trading or buying samples or bottles, please and my wanted list here. I will gladly add any information you can provide to this site. I typically open about 1-2 Blood Tubs per year, so I am always on the lookout for new bottles.

My personal Blood Tub collection as of May 2024

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Overview of Port Charlotte Blood Tub casks

• Cask 19 / 26 Bottles / 58,0%
• Cask 20 / 27 Bottles / 58,5%
• Cask 21 / 33 Bottles / 56,5%
• Cask 22 / 30 Bottles / 55,1%
• Cask 32 / 40 Bottles / 46% – Rothaich Reserve
• Cask 36 / 42 Bottles / 46% 
• Cask 37 / 39 Bottles / 46%
• Cask 38 / 41 Bottles / 46%
• Cask 40 / 40 Bottles / 46% 
• Cask 43 / 33 Botlles / 46% – Howies Reserve
• Cask 45 / 36 Bottles / 55,5% – Kai’s reserve
• Cask 49 / 38 Bottles / 46% 
• Cask 887 / 48 bottles / 54,9% – Reifferscheid
• Cask 1311 / 33 bottles / 59,2% – Rotation 5R2
• Cask 20-04/R0135 / 30 Bottles / 56.8% – Peat & Barley Whisky Tastings
• Cask R04/135-55 / 26 bottles / 50,4% – Markus Fischer
• Cask R2 / 43 Bottles / 46% – John Anderson & Trevor Taylor
• Cask R6 / 33 bottles / 60.0% – Marty B
• Cask R7 / 38 Bottles / 60,6% – Islay map
• Cask R10 / 32 Bottles / 62,7% – Kid on Casks
• Cask R15 / 30 bottles / 51,2% – Kohne Haus-Hermann
• Cask R23 / 39 Bottles / 61,4% – Gordon Homer 
• Cask R31 / 30 Bottles / 63% – Kieler Whiskyclub  
• Cask R34 / 31 Bottles / 56,2% – MP & LM First Edition
• Cask R37 / 24 Bottles / 56,0% – Alan Robinson 
• Cask R42 / 41 Bottles / 60.6% – Gerold Vincon Lighthouse
• Cask ? / 50% – Mr Seegers

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Details on the bottles / Reviews / etc.

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Image courtesy of Whiskybase

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Image courtesy of Whiskybase

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image with friendly approval from Stefan H. – whiskywahn.de

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Image courtesy of Whiskybase

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Image courtesy of Whiskybase

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Overview of Bruichladdich Blood Tub Casks

In addition there are also a few Bloodtubs which were filled with the traditional un-peated Bruichladdich Spirit. It seems like this was the much less popular option as so far I am only aware of 7 casks.

Details on the bottles / Reviews / etc.

Cask 766 / 26 bottles / 59,3%
Cask 770 / 26 bottles / 53,3%
Cask 772 / 36 bottles / 46,0%
Cask 777 / 30 bottles / 58,7%
Cask 443 / 24 bottles / 46% – Frank McGuire Reserve
Cask 1255 / 41 bottles / 46% – Donny’s Chocolate Drops for the Machrie Team Challange Winners
Cask 0774 / ? bottles / 51,5% – Dark Force

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Updates:

23.03.2024 – Just found pictures/information about one new Port Charlotte and two new Bruichladdich Blood tubs of which I was not aware – reached out to Whiskybase to add them. Love it.
26.03.2024 – And the 3 bottles have been added to whiskybase 🙂
08.04.2024 – Further updates and additional information / Interview guide
21.04.2024 – Updates / Structuring and Links
10.05.2024 – Added 2 bottles and 1 picture

P.S. All images are my own pictures, unless otherwise noted.