If You Can Find It, Try It: Port Charlotte Rock’ndaal 03.2

The Rock’ndaal 2024 festival bottling, a 20-year-old Port Charlotte, is still on my mind. If you can track a bottle down, you will not regret it.

First, full transparency. Unlike this bottle, I am happy to be completely open about how it came to me. A good mate who happens to have a connection to Bruichladdich Distillery managed to grab some empty bottles and a couple of solid drams for me at the festival in 2024. I thought the packaging would make a brilliant prop when discussing whisky design, and he came in clutch. Because of this, you will notice there is no score and it will not be joining the leaderboard. That felt like the only fair approach, so instead I am simply giving my honest onions on a very pricey, very cool-looking festival release.

Let us start with the bottle itself, because it certainly does slap. The thick, artillery-shaped Port Charlotte vessel is finished in emerald green glass, though I was convinced it was black until I started making notes. The artwork is an obvious nod to Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, one of those covers as instantly recognisable as Dark Side of the Moon or Sergeant Pepper. There is even a hidden code in the audio wave design that I still have not cracked, so someone brighter than me will have to help me out.

A QR code reveals all the nerdy juicy bits too. It is 100% Scottish barley, peated to 40 PPM, distilled in 2004, bottled at 54% ABV, non chill filtered with natural colour, matured in 70% bourbon and 30% Sauternes casks.

On the nose I get floral apricot, a buttery cereal note, and an earthy, hearty smoke that leans more Ledaig than Laphroaig. The palate is creamy and prickly on the lips, with briny smoke, candy floss grapes, a sharp lemon edge, and a zesty floral centre. Compared side by side with the classic Port Charlotte 10, the difference is huge. The 10 is a smack in the gob, sharp and vibrant. This 20-year-old is rounder, sweeter and altogether more luxurious. It is the kind of dram you melt into the chair with while time slows down.

So is it worth the £225 price tag? In my wallet, no, although I completely understand getting swept up in the waves of festival excitement and dropping the money without regret. This is a spectacular whisky, even if I am too old for camping these days.

Have you tried this one, or the Bruichladdich ’90s disco box released alongside it? I would love to hear your thoughts.

To see my full tasting, check out my YouTube video.