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| Hello, that is considered one of our (nearly) each day tastings. Santé! |
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December 23, 2024
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Catching up with Octomore and chasing the ppms
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It’s not precisely simple to place collectively a flight of Octomores—the thought at all times feels a bit intimidating, particularly because you already know that nothing will be capable to observe them. However this time, we’re going for it! We’ll rank them just by ascending ABV… By the way in which, we haven’t but tried mixing Octomore with HD ‘
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Octomore 5 yo 2017/2023 ‘Version 15.2’ (57.9%, OB, refill wine and bourbon + cognac end) 
At 108.2ppm, that is ‘tremendous closely peated’, you perceive. The rationale for a cognac cask end appears relatively obscure on this context—maybe they merely had just a few cognac casks mendacity round. Scottish logic, in a manner. Color: white wine. Nostril: we’re straight right into a pharmacy, whereas somebody close by is having a barbecue. Plenty of mercurochrome and simply the impression of visiting working maltings at full throttle (whereas they’re doing peat, after all). With water: why on earth can we really feel like we’ve acquired our heads in an extinguished hearth? Mouth (neat): lemon, apple, gentian, pepper, smoke, toothpaste. This implies enterprise. With water: it turns into nearly simplistic, but it’s very elegant. Smoked mint. End: lengthy, extra saline and lemonier. Not the faintest hint of cognac. Feedback: very clear, very pure. I repeat, don’t fear, no detectable cognac right here—this isn’t some trans-blend. And we love cognac.
SGP:468 – 88 factors. |
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Octomore 5 yo 2012/2018 ‘Version 9.2’ (58.2%, OB, Bordeaux end, 12000 bottles) 
That is nearly plugging a spot—we’d by no means tasted this model earlier than, although the thought of ending a whisky made out of malted barley measured at 156ppm peat in Bordeaux casks by no means sounded significantly appetising. Color: orange/apricot. Nostril: frankly, it’s all proper, however 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. Maybe as a sauce, on fajitas? Mouth (neat): an excessive amount of. That is not whisky—it’s a liquid assault. Huge doses of smoked blackcurrants, chlorophyll blended with cherries… You progress on rapidly. With water: phew, it calms down, you get again to earth, and it turns into nearly drinkable, regardless of the Bordeaux pepperiness—it’s nearly like utterly unhinged cabernet franc. End: lengthy, bitter, nearly spicy. The pepper continues to be there, and so is the cassis. Feedback: that is actually very unbelievable—and nearly unscorable. I’m giving it a rating nearly at random, let’s go along with that.
SGP:578 – 70 factors. |
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Octomore 5 yo 2016/2022 ‘Version 13.4’ (61.6%, OB, The Unattainable Equation, virgin oak end, 3,500 bottles) 
137.3ppm. Color: gold. Nostril: however after all, vanilla, ripe bananas, apples, and papayas, with peat that’s finally relatively discreet, alongside a contact of thyme honey. With water: oh pretty—sauna oils, hints of mint essence and eucalyptus… The relatively vanillin-led edge is eradicated. Mouth (neat): typical lively oak, although the distillate can deal with all of it. Very good peppers, citrus peels, camphor and eucalyptus, cough syrup, ginger… There’s a sure simplicity, however all the pieces works completely. With water: pencil shavings, as anticipated, although it stays inside affordable bounds. End: lengthy, sweeter, with assorted sweets. Foam bananas. Feedback: it retains a barely younger and doctored really feel, but I need to confess, with out disgrace, that I relatively prefer it.
SGP:567 – 86 factors. |
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Octomore 5 yo 2018/2024 ‘Version 15.3’ (61.3%, OB, The Unattainable Equation)
307.2ppm this time. It jogs my memory of Motörhead within the Nineteen Seventies, attempting to play as loud as attainable (‘If we transfer in subsequent door to you, your garden will die’). All of the barley comes from Octomore Farm on Islay, with bourbon casks and Fernando de Castilla casks from Jerez. Color: gentle gold. Nostril: as standard, you don’t instantly sense ‘the ppm’, and albeit, we all know Port Charlotte examples that style rather more ‘peated’. We’ll quickly have dozens of Port Charlottes on WF, by the way in which. Anyway, it is a comparatively mild Octomore for now, extra on ashes and ripe apples, even honey. With water: contemporary bread, ashes, brine, sourdough. Mouth (neat): very ‘eau-de-vie’, kirsch… Frankly, it feels slightly too younger at this stage, though we do fairly like that mezcal-like aspect that additionally seems. With water: the citrus explodes onto the scene, whereas the entire thing turns brutal. The extra water you add (as much as a sure level), the extra you erase the sweetness of the alcohol and the extra these d****d 370.2ppm come by way of—it’s worse than a noose. End: very lengthy, extra bitter, peppery, with a base of pickled lemons in brine. Chilli peppers within the aftertaste. Feedback: truly, it’s actually excessive—at first, you’d suppose it’s nearly rotgut, however in actuality… Quite love.
SGP:479 – 87 factors. |
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Octomore 5 yo 2018/2024 ‘Version 15.1’ (59.1%, OB, The Unattainable Equation, bourbon + recharred bourbon)
108.2ppm—youngster’s play. Color: straw. Nostril: smooth, nearly mild, with Bruichladdich’s signature melon and a contact of meadow honey. I’ve heard that on Islay, when the wind picks up, bees know to fly near the bottom. You would possibly say we do the identical after visiting the distilleries, gliding simply above floor degree. Anyway, it is a mild Octomore, however I repeat, the true ‘beasts’ are among the Port Charlottes. With water: it stays near chalk, Islay soil, and the wool of its sheep… Mouth (neat): no, this is excellent—highly effective, saline, with no alien aromas alongside the way in which, targeted on an intensely rendered lemon and Loch Indaal water. Oh, we’ve tasted it many occasions. The pepper is spot-on. With water: sure! An avalanche of ashes, gherkins, and small oysters. End: lengthy, on ashes, smoked kippers, and maybe even an olive. A bit cough candy lingers within the aftertaste. Feedback: my favorite up to now—positively extra complicated than the others, although it’s essential to dilute it effectively and never play the cowboy; the distillers already do sufficient of that.
SGP:457 – 89 factors. |
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We dream of a well-aged Octomore, and above all, one coming from a cask—or a number of—that they’ve simply left to relaxation ‘good and straightforward’. I’m certain it exists. In brief, a easy bourbon barrel or a refill hoggie to spherical off this session could be excellent…
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Octomore 11 yo 2012/2024 (63.3%, Dramfool, Jim McEwan Signature Assortment, first fill bourbon barrel, cask #4355, Launch 9.3, 226 bottles) 
156ppm, however who’s counting? Color: straw. Nostril: we’re again to hospitals and linoleum, iodine tincture, contemporary plaster, damp chalk, mercurochrome, hearth ashes, and cigarette ash (ashtray at 5 a.m.—if reminiscence serves), then pickled gherkins and even olives. We love all that, Huge Jim. With water: the barley takes cost, rather more than the peat. Or maybe, ‘a large bag of oatcakes’. Mouth (neat): sweetness from the alcohol, pear eau-de-vie, plum eau-de-vie—nearly a vodka-like aspect, however don’t get me mistaken, that is something however a criticism. In any case, nobody’s imagined to drink whisky at 63.3%, not even in ridiculous American superhero movies. With water: and right here come fruit peelings, freshly malted barley perfumed with peat (or an previous kiln in operation), adopted by these well-known olives. The little pink olives from the Maghreb… End: lengthy, saline, briny, with tar, liquorice, olives, oysters, anchovies, ashes, and so forth… Feedback: we’ve discovered our 90. This can be a magnificent ‘no-wine’ bottling.
SGP:467 – 90 factors. |
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