Octomore

COUNTRY/REGION: Scotland/Islay.

CATEGORY: Single malt.

DISTILLERY: Bruichladdich.

BOTTLER: Distillery Bottling.

DISTILLED: 2012

BOTTLED: 2018

NUMBER OF BOTTLES: 42000

STRENGTH: 59.1% Vol.

Octomore 09.1 questions the fundamentals of superior single malt Scotch. Confident in its five year age statement, our Head Distiller demonstrates how a focus on raw ingredients and considered distillation can definitively debunk the myth that older is better. Distilled in 2012 from 100% Scottish barley, the 09.1 is matured full-term in top-tier ex-American whiskey casks.

THE CONTROL: The structural brilliance of the .1 editions are a necessary benchmark for each Octomore series. The vitality of the spirit offers an awakening for those bound by the ideology that older is better. It is a proud statement of what can be achieved when Scottish barley is distilled in tall, narrow necked copper pots, before spending five short years in ‘active’ American oak.

OCTOMORE 09.1 διάλογος is:

COLOUR: Pale gold.

CHARACTER: Refined, sleek, confident in its youth. Older than its years.

AROMA: Smoke and oak, intense sweetness from the cask, vanilla, cinder toffee. The smoke is thick, velvety and vegetal, peat and earthy.

TASTE: Soft on the palate- no aggression, nutty, fudge, nougat, delicate coconut and rose petal floral.

FINISH: Long peat finish, hints of treacle, warm sand/salt.

Supplier: 
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COUNTRY/REGION: Scotland/Islay.

CATEGORY: Single malt.

DISTILLERY: Bruichladdich.

BOTTLER: Distillery Bottling.

DISTILLED: 2013

BOTTLED: 2019

NUMBER OF BOTTLES: 42000

STRENGTH: 59.8% Vol.

Octomore Ten is unleashed once more. Taking a different maturation path than its decade old predecessors, this third edition demonstrates the playfulness of the warehouse master. A patchwork quilt of sorts, many parcels of sophisticated spirit have been knitted together to complete this series’ relentless path of discovery.

THE OUTLIER: With the 09.1, 09.2 and 09.3 all distilled in 2012, a comparison of the changing characteristics is logical. Unlike any other in this series however, the Octomore Ten stands alone.

This third limited edition of Octomore Ten is everything Octomore should not be. The maturation time is doubled. The maturation profile is as complex as they come. And yet it works. Our Octomore education evolves.

Much of this Octomore bottling is an ode to editions past, with spirit released years earlier in 06.2 and 07.4. Now aged further, this weird and winding journey incorporates casks which previously held bourbon, cognac, port or nothing at all (virgin oak). The results of each individual parcel are brought together in an astounding display to become greater than the sum of its parts.

OCTOMORE TEN διάλογος is:

COLOUR: Tawny.

CHARACTER: A dram of depth and worth taking some time to get to know. Greater than the sum of its parts and the parts that combine to make it have an individual story of their own.

AROMA: There is a richness, chocolate, tobacco, bonfire smoke, leather. Vanilla custard, blueberry dry straw and pear drops.

TASTE: Warming, spicy – mulled wine. Leather and tobacco, malt sugar, icing sugar. All wrapped in earthy peaty smoke. Dry on the palate.

FINISH: Oak driven, coconut, tobacco, vanilla, then smoke. In balance the time in the cask has calmed the smoke, both through the phenols lowering naturally over time and the influence of the oak becoming greater.

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