Country: Scotland – Islay Distillery: Bruichladdich Type: Single Malt
Age: 8
Cask: Ex-Bourbon & Sauternes
ABV: 56.9%
Proof: 113.8
Price: $135
Nose: Honey, heather, brown sugar glazed bacon, stone fruits, vanilla, toasted oak, fragrant white flowers.
Palate: Palate has a sweet oily start with peach and nectarines. It gets dry with wood smoke, white grapes and ash.
Finish: Lingering with oak spice, toasted oak, sweet smoke, honey, with a crisp character.
Bruichladdich has created a distinctive fan base with their Octomore single malts. Remembering the first release Octomore 01.1 in 2009, it created a weird excitement among the whisky enthusiasts with its young age of 5 years and its gigantic peat level of 131 ppm. It was the bipolar sibling of the Classic Laddie!
As years passed Octomore range developed in a brilliant way and now it shows different aspects of the distillery, production and of course the peat itself.
Octomore 10.2 is produced with 100% Scottish Optic and Oxbridge barley. It is aged for 4 years in 1st fill Bourbon barrels and another 4 years in 3rd fill Sauternes wine casks making a total of 8 years. 24000 bottles of Octomore 10.2 were produced for Travel Retail. Also when you think that 2020 prevented us from traveling, there are still some bottles at the duty free stores.
The nose started with honey and continued with sweet aromas. Peat showed itself like a glazed bacon for me. Beautiful white flowers, toasted oak and stone fruits create a harmony.
Palate is the most impressive part of my tasting. The balance of super heavy peat, fruit flavors, oak flavors is incredible.
Finish was lingering with toasted oak flavors and touch of oak spice. It was a crisp and clean finish.
But, what happened to the peat at 96.9 PPM? Why didn't I feel it that much? Numbers don't always matter! PPM values generally show the level before distillation. It decreases during the distillation and maturation. So what we have in our bottles are most of the time lower than the amount stated. To my knowledge the only brand which states the level in the bottle is The Aisla Bay!
In the upcoming months Octomore 11 bottles will be arriving. So there is no better time to build up the expectations.
