Catching up with Octomore and chasing the ppms


December 23, 2024

Catching up with Octomore and chasing the ppms

It’s not exactly easy to put together a flight of Octomores—the idea always feels a bit intimidating, especially since you already know that nothing will be able to follow them. But this time, we’re going for it! We’ll rank them simply by ascending ABV… By the way, we haven’t yet tried blending Octomore with HD ‘<DOK’, but I promise we’ll get around to it one of these days—stay tuned.

Octomore 5 yo 2017/2023 'Edition 15.2' (57.9%, OB, refill wine and bourbon + cognac finish)

At 108.2ppm, this is ‘super heavily peated’, you understand. The rationale for a cognac cask finish seems rather obscure in this context—perhaps they simply had a few cognac casks lying around. Scottish logic, in a way. Colour: white wine. Nose: we’re straight into a pharmacy, while someone nearby is having a barbecue. Masses of mercurochrome and just the impression of visiting working maltings at full throttle (while they’re doing peat, of course). With water: why on earth do we feel like we’ve got our heads in an extinguished fireplace? Mouth (neat): lemon, apple, gentian, pepper, smoke, toothpaste. This means business. With water: it becomes almost simplistic, yet it’s very elegant. Smoked mint. Finish: long, more saline and lemonier. Not the faintest trace of cognac. Comments: very clean, very pure. I repeat, don’t worry, no detectable cognac here—this isn’t some trans-blend. And we love cognac.
SGP:468 - 88 points.

Octomore 5 yo 2012/2018 'Edition 9.2' (58.2%, OB, Bordeaux finish, 12000 bottles)

This is just about plugging a gap—we’d never tasted this version before, though the idea of finishing a whisky made from malted barley measured at 156ppm peat in Bordeaux casks never sounded particularly appetising. Colour: orange/apricot. Nose: frankly, it’s all right, but you do get piperade, cooked peppers, blackcurrant buds, bay leaves, and new trainers (that’ll be the malt) … Even with 156ppm. With water: stale crème de cassis and cooked peppers. Perhaps as a sauce, on fajitas? Mouth (neat): too much. This is no longer whisky—it’s a liquid assault. Massive doses of smoked blackcurrants, chlorophyll mixed with cherries... You move on quickly. With water: phew, it calms down, you get back to earth, and it becomes almost drinkable, despite the Bordeaux pepperiness—it’s almost like completely unhinged cabernet franc. Finish: long, bitter, almost spicy. The pepper is still there, and so is the cassis. Comments: this is really very improbable—and almost unscorable. I’m giving it a score almost at random, let’s go with that.
SGP:578 - 70 points.

Octomore 5 yo 2016/2022 'Edition 13.4' (61.6%, OB, The Impossible Equation, virgin oak finish, 3,500 bottles)

137.3ppm. Colour: gold. Nose: but of course, vanilla, ripe bananas, apples, and papayas, with peat that’s ultimately rather discreet, alongside a touch of thyme honey. With water: oh lovely—sauna oils, hints of mint essence and eucalyptus… The rather vanillin-led edge is eradicated. Mouth (neat): typical active oak, though the distillate can handle it all. Very nice peppers, citrus peels, camphor and eucalyptus, cough syrup, ginger… There’s a certain simplicity, but everything works perfectly. With water: pencil shavings, as expected, though it stays within reasonable bounds. Finish: long, sweeter, with assorted sweets. Foam bananas. Comments: it retains a slightly young and doctored feel, yet I must confess, without shame, that I rather like it.
SGP:567 - 86 points.

Octomore 5 yo 2018/2024 'Edition 15.3' (61.3%, OB, The Impossible Equation)

307.2ppm this time. It reminds me of Motörhead in the 1970s, trying to play as loud as possible (‘If we move in next door to you, your lawn will die’). All the barley comes from Octomore Farm on Islay, with bourbon casks and Fernando de Castilla casks from Jerez. Colour: light gold. Nose: as usual, you don’t immediately sense ‘the ppm’, and frankly, we know Port Charlotte examples that taste much more ‘peated’. We’ll soon have dozens of Port Charlottes on WF, by the way. Anyway, this is a relatively gentle Octomore for now, more on ashes and ripe apples, even honey. With water: fresh bread, ashes, brine, sourdough. Mouth (neat): very ‘eau-de-vie’, kirsch… Frankly, it feels a little too young at this stage, although we do quite like that mezcal-like side that also appears. With water: the citrus explodes onto the scene, while the whole thing turns brutal. The more water you add (up to a certain point), the more you erase the sweetness of the alcohol and the more those d****d 370.2ppm come through—it’s worse than a noose. Finish: very long, more bitter, peppery, with a base of pickled lemons in brine. Chilli peppers in the aftertaste. Comments: actually, it’s really extreme—at first, you’d think it’s almost rotgut, but in reality… Rather love.
SGP:479 - 87 points.

Octomore 5 yo 2018/2024 'Edition 15.1' (59.1%, OB, The Impossible Equation, bourbon + recharred bourbon)

108.2ppm—child’s play. Colour: straw. Nose: soft, almost gentle, with Bruichladdich’s signature melon and a touch of meadow honey. I’ve heard that on Islay, when the wind picks up, bees know to fly close to the ground. You might say we do the same after visiting the distilleries, gliding just above ground level. Anyway, this is a gentle Octomore, but I repeat, the real ‘beasts’ are some of the Port Charlottes. With water: it stays close to chalk, Islay soil, and the wool of its sheep… Mouth (neat): no, this is very good—powerful, saline, with no alien aromas along the way, focused on an intensely rendered lemon and Loch Indaal water. Oh, we’ve tasted it many times. The pepper is spot-on. With water: yes! An avalanche of ashes, gherkins, and small oysters. Finish: long, on ashes, smoked kippers, and perhaps even an olive. A little cough sweet lingers in the aftertaste. Comments: my favourite so far—definitely more complex than the others, though it’s crucial to dilute it well and not play the cowboy; the distillers already do enough of that.
SGP:457 - 89 points.

We dream of a well-aged Octomore, and above all, one coming from a cask—or several—that they’ve just left to rest ‘nice and easy’. I’m sure it exists. In short, a simple bourbon barrel or a refill hoggie to round off this session would be perfect…

Octomore 11 yo 2012/2024 (63.3%, Dramfool, Jim McEwan Signature Collection, first fill bourbon barrel, cask #4355, Release 9.3, 226 bottles)

156ppm, but who’s counting? Colour: straw. Nose: we’re back to hospitals and linoleum, iodine tincture, fresh plaster, damp chalk, mercurochrome, fireplace ashes, and cigarette ash (ashtray at 5 a.m.—if memory serves), then pickled gherkins and even olives. We love all that, Big Jim. With water: the barley takes charge, much more than the peat. Or perhaps, ‘a massive bag of oatcakes’. Mouth (neat): sweetness from the alcohol, pear eau-de-vie, plum eau-de-vie—almost a vodka-like side, but don’t get me wrong, this is anything but a criticism. In any case, no one’s supposed to drink whisky at 63.3%, not even in ridiculous American superhero films. With water: and here come fruit peelings, freshly malted barley perfumed with peat (or an old kiln in operation), followed by those famous olives. The little pink olives from the Maghreb… Finish: long, saline, briny, with tar, liquorice, olives, oysters, anchovies, ashes, and so on… Comments: we’ve found our 90. This is a magnificent ‘no-wine’ bottling.
SGP:467 - 90 points.

(Merci Franco!)

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