A flight of 7 Octomore


December 6, 2023

A flight of 7 Octomore

While the very first 'new' Bruichladdichs at the very beginning of the 2000s were lightly peated, it was soon decided to go back to zero peat, all while adding peated variants of the make, including a very smoky one called 'Octomore', which was the name of both a farm and an ancient small distillery in the neighbourhood.

Bairds Maltings in Inverness, home of the company's
peated malts. The site is expanding. (Bairds Malt)

The new Octomores have always been super-peaty, starting from 80ppm peat in the malt up to 200 or even more, all sourced from the mainland (from Bairds' if I remember well, produced according to own specifications)... Having said that, we've already noticed that the 'effects, of the ppms' in the glass are never linear. The first vintage of Octomore has been 2002. There, that's more or less all I know, let's catch up now…

Octomore 5 yo 2015/2021 'Edition 12.1' (59.9%, OB, The Impossible Equation, 1st fill bourbon)

130.8ppm peat here, while as always, Edition #**.1 is matured in first-fill bourbon, so with no wine in the way. According to the distillers, 5 years is also the ideal age to retain as much peat as possible. Now we also seem to know that it's mainly between the malting plant and the mashtuns that most smokiness can be lost. Colour: white wine. Nose: these batches are always very pure, surgically cut, almost mono-dimensional in fact but that's exactly what you'd be looking for. Ashes, chalk, soot, brine and basta cosi. With water: kelp, oysters, chalk, new sweater, wool... Mouth (neat): rather fat, all while being sharp as a scalpel. More ashes, olives, seawater, also lemons. Certainly the malt that's closest to the heaviest Jamaican rums, you could almost call it 'funky'. With water: a lot of salt, coriander, lemon, ashes, thyme oil and coal tar. Finish: extremely long, with much more pepper and lime, beyond all the ashes. A lot of seawater in the aftertaste. Comments: very ashtray-y, as we used to say. It's high-precision malt, far from being only a stunt. But Octomore remains a little frightening and when you bring out a bottle after dinner, you often see your guests quiver a bit.
SGP:468 - 90 points.

Octomore 5 yo 2016/2022 'Edition 13.1' (59.2%, OB, The Impossible Equation, 1st fill bourbon)

137.3ppm in this one. Colour: straw. Nose: immediately softer and fruitier than 12.1, with more lemon tarte, meringue, nectarines, even mangos, vanilla… Even the peat remains discreet, and so do seashells, seaweed and just anything coastal or medicinal. This is very intriguing, I would suppose the American oak was fresher, or at least more active this time. With water: naturally, it goes in the other direction once water has been added, the spirit of contradiction I would suppose. Olive brine, clams, olive oil, seawater, limoncello… Mouth (neat): rather back to big smoke, rubber and seawater, but there's a lot of some kind of grapefruit liqueur, Szechuan pepper, even a feeling of hops. Some deep-smoked India Pale Ale, perhaps… With water: it remains rather fruitier this time, with even more salty citrus, while the background would remain very ashy and drying. Indeed, ashtray-y. Finish: very long, very salty, with some kind of super-margarita. Indeed, a feeling of tequila, how funny is that? Comments: superb once more, but I enjoyed its brother's extreme purity even better. This 13.1 is already 'civilised', I would say.
SGP:557 - 88 points.

Perhaps the newest '.1'…

Octomore 5 yo 2017/2023 'Edition 14.1' (59.6%, OB, The Impossible Equation, 1st fill bourbon)

128.9ppm this time. Alert, we're losing peat, ha! Just like the others, it's been using Concerto barley. Colour: white wine. Nose: back to austere ones, it seems. A lorryload of chalk and plaster, beach bonfire, 'a huge ashtray late at night', tyres, coal, a bit of glue, some iodine… With water: rather more green vegetables than more wool or chalk. Rucola seems obvious. Mouth (neat): scalpel-like again, with more bitterness, loads of ashes, lemon skins, seawater, oysters, a little varnish… With water: we're closer to 13.1, with ashes and… salted tequila. Quite some nutmeg. Finish: very long, lemony, grassier, and always very ashy. Olive brine in the aftertaste. Comments: it's a little tough to have many Octomore in a raw like this and we're absolutely not done! Liked this one too.
SGP:567 - 87 points.

Let's do the '.2s', the ones that have met with wine…

Octomore 5 yo 2015/2021 'Edition 12.2' (57.3%, OB, The Impossible Equation, bourbon with 1st fill 18 months Sauternes finish)

129.7ppm peat. It's to be remembered that if you want to keep barrels that had contained sweet wine, for example for long distance travels, you need to burn rather a lot of sulphur, unless the distillers would have shipped quite a few litres of spirit upfront to protect the cask. Not too sure how they do it here… BTW I remember having seen quite a few ex-Yquem casks arriving at the distillery, but that was a good ten years before these recent vintages. Colour: pale gold. Nose: it is another world, rather full of bananas and pears, then camphor and mango chutney. Tiny touch of vinegar, no detectable sulphur. With water: cough syrup, kids' mouthwash (strawberry and cherry), yeast, pastry dough, honey… Mouth (neat): rich, mentholy. Thyme tea and olives, apricots, heather honey, blood oranges… There seems to be some excellent whisky – wine integration, but it's true that they've become rather skilled at this game. With water: olives fighting back. Apricots and olives? Not too sure. Seriously, this is good, if a tiny tad dissonant here and there. Serious sweetness. Finish: long, with a feeling of smoked honey. Overripe bananas, seashells and a little rubber in the aftertaste. Comments: the Sauternes does mellow the peat. Not my preferred Octomores but it remains excellent.
SGP:666 - 86 points.

Octomore 5 yo 2016/2022 'Edition 13.2' (58.3%, OB, The Impossible Equation, Rey Fernando de Castilla Oloroso Sherry)

137.3ppm. I've heard Rey Fernando de Castilla's brandies de Jerez were pretty good; I'll have to check them out. Colour: gold. Nose: the power of good sherry. More dimension, a richer style and yet no loss of identity in this case. Wonderful walnuts, smoked meats, beef jerky, cigars, artisan butterscotch, menthol, myrtle, burning hay, liquorice… With water: more flinty notes, basalt, slate, some deep-smoked bacon too, greasy ashes, blood oranges… Mouth (neat): phenolmenal, as young bloggers would say. Amazing smoky citrus, tar, 'good' sulphur (matches), some bitter chocolate, plus most naturally, a lot of old walnuts and touches of artichoke liqueur. With water: this 'good sulphur' is still there, and would come with oranges, peppers, eucalyptus oil, seawater, black olives… Finish: long. Smoke and gunpowder, roasted chestnuts, more walnuts, some ham and bacon, herbs, verbena… Comments: this one was more complex and I believe the sherry was splendid.
SGP:567 - 90 points.

Octomore 5 yo 2017/2023 'Edition 14.2' (57.7%, OB, The Impossible Equation, 1st fill oloroso and 1st + 2nd fill Amarone)

128.9ppm peat and… Amarone, this strongly reminds one of a Hawaiian pizza. Let's proceed with caution then… But does modern Scottish whisky really need so much wine to stand up? Don't talk to me about innovation or experimentation, everyone is doing the same these days, which is quite odd, is it not? Colour: apricot. There. Nose: the heavy red wine literally ate the peat. Well, quite. Red grapes, dried goji, grenadine syrup, poppy jelly, then toffee, rose blancmange, arrack, moist dried figs… I find it really strange, but not un-nice. Certainly not 'Islay', let alone 'Rhinns'. With water: closer to pastry dough and even grist, with the fat red Italian kept at a distance this time. Mouth (neat): huge and a bit misshapen, sweet and salty, mild and peaty. It's somewhat like two young mutts meeting for the first time, see what I mean? Some squeaks were to be expected. With water: no, this was unnecessary. With strawberry-flavoured buttercream topped with ashes and olives, you would be immediately sacked from any culinary school. Finish: long, not very easy. Smoked goji berries or something. Comments: ban Amarone. Love (some) Amarone, but not in my whisky. Having said that, this remains Octomore.
SGP:756 - 80 points.

This website is becoming wineskyfun.com, no? Time for a last one, with mucho caution…

Octomore 5 yo 2016/2022 'Edition 13.3' (61.1%, OB, The Impossible Equation, Islay barley, 1st fill bourbon and 2nd fill Rivesaltes + Ribera del Duero)

129.3ppm peat and, apparently, more crazy winesky. But watch these Rivesaltes casks, they can be great when not too muscaty and anyway, they were second fill. Colour: straw. Nose: good, the wines were anecdotal, this a pretty pure crystalline, full-smoky Octomore with some coal, tar, kelp, beach sand, smokes (cigars, candle) and only then a little aniseed and peaches, possibly from the wines. Honeysuckle and woodruff coming through too. Chilli. No quibbling. With water: ripe peaches coming out. Nothing can beat ripe peaches, whichever the context. Mouth (neat): super, hyper-punchy, salty and peppery, tarry and rubbery, with a je-ne-sais-quoi of that distillery that's sitting furthest east on the south coast of Islay. Yep, that one. Excellent. With water: excellent it is. Some kind of smoky and peppery goulash sauce. Awesome fruits then, peaches indeed, prickly pears… Finish: very long but balanced, briney and fruity, with good chilli and pepper. This with Phaal curry! Comments: seriously, great drop, with a lot of action. Maybe to be also tried chilled and undiluted, in very small measures. I'm not sure I got the Ribera del Duero part having said that, but I shall not complain.
SGP:568 - 89 points.

Tough session because of the heavy profile of these drops. We've also got bags of Port Charlotte and Lochindaal to unload, but probably not in 2023.

(Merci Franco !)

Check the index of all Octomore we've tasted so far