Top 20 Whiskies of 2021

#11 • Port Charlotte PAC:01 2011

  • Rank: 11
  • Year: 2021
  • Score: 93
  • Price: $130
  • ABV: 56.1%
  • Style: Single malt
  • Place of Origin: Scotland (Islay)

This malt professes to be “heavily peated,” but fear not: peat is but a single brush stroke on a much broader canvas. Scottish grain evokes Honey Nut Cheerios and warm porridge, while the peat suggests grilled vegetables and molten campfire marshmallow. There’s briny smoke wafting from a beach bonfire, girded by bright berry and cherry fruit from time spent in red Bordeaux wine casks. Fine oak tannins meet heaps of sweet vanilla on the finish. A captivating malt that seems to have it all. —Jeffery Lindenmuth