Specialty shops in UK, EU and major US cities

Highly recommended

For the details…

Islay’s Bruichladdich distillery produces three distinct varietals: the core Bruichladdich range, using unpeated malt, Port Charlotte, using heavily peated malt, and Octomore, using super heavily peated malt. Port Charlotte is the nearest town, and also the name of a now defunct Islay distillery; Octomore likewise takes its name from a defunct distillery.

Bruichladdich was built in 1881 by the Harvey brothers, and it went through numerous ownership changes through the 20th century, including a stint as part of DCL, and then one with Whyte and Mackay who shuttered the plant in 1995. An independent consortium of local landowners and a London wine merchant purchased the distillery in 2000 and reopened it a year later under the direction of whisky industry dynamo Jim McEwan. Most of the existing stocks were re-racked in new barrels and a proliferation of bottlings with various wood finishes followed. Although the distillery had produced unpeated whisky for most of its recent history, the new ownership took advantage of the peat bandwagon that continues to dominate the whisky enthusiast community, and created two peated lines, one more peaty than the other. Remy Cointreau bought the distillery in 2012, and despite subtle rebranding, has kept most of the changes the previous owners implemented.

When malt is dried over burning peat, the intensity of the peating is measured in parts per million (ppm) of phenols. Lightly peated whiskies usually hit in the 4-6 ppm range; medium peating levels run around 12-16 ppm; the fully peated whiskies that we tend to associate with Islay run the gamut from around 25-30 ppm for Bowmore, to 40-50 ppm (depending on the specific expression) from the heavily peated Kildalton trio of Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg. Octomore is consistently peated to over 100 ppm, varying by expression (the one reviewed here is just north of 137 ppm phenols). That is some very, very, very peaty whisky.

I have a funny relationship with peat. When I first started drinking Scotch as a teenager, I tended to gravitate toward smoke and peat, but I went through a substantial phase in my later 20s and 30s where I mostly lost my taste for peaty whisky, a phase that I am only just beginning to fully emerge from. I also have a temperamental dislike of extremity and lack of nuance. I don’t understand the craze to create the hottest possible hot sauce, nor the push to create the hoppiest IPA. I don’t like Nietzsche, I don’t like loud cars or motorbikes, I don’t like bombast and ostentation, generally. You can imagine that when I first heard of Octomore, I dismissed it as a bombastic gimmick. I wasn’t interested in shelling out well north of $100 for a minimally aged whisky designed to assail my taste buds with peat, and so year on year, I ignored Octomore.

Boy was I wrong.

Credit to fellow New Mexican Whisky One for his review, which got me curious about the stuff. My wonderful wife bought me this bottle in celebration of our 5 year wedding anniversary, and boy is it a cracker. Yes, it is stunningly smoky–but it’s also got chocolate, coffee, and even some berry notes. Altogether, it’s a stunning dram, one that I would highly recommend to any whisky lover.

Octomore 13.1  (137.3 ppm) 59.2% abv

Nose: Aggressively smoky and tarry with a menthol undertone. Fresh asphalt on a hot summer day. Charred wood from a campfire, the morning after. Underneath, notes of carmelized brown sugar and chicory coffee grounds.

Body: Medium to full, slightly oily.

Palate: Delicious rich smoke with a distinct note of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Capuccino with a slight note of vanilla, wild blueberry, flourless chocolate cake with blackberry coulis. Some pepper. Huge and complex.

Finish: Long, smoky, charred, ash. Creosote. Delicious.

Score: 97/100

Who should buy it?: If you like whisky, you’re definitely going to want to at least try this, and if you enjoy a smoky, peaty dram, a bottle of this will be well worth your money.

Overall thoughts: An absolute stunner that shows just how magnificent a heavily peated whisky can be.

Bottling Information:

Expression: Octomore 13.1 59.2% abv (Bruichladdich Distillery)

Bottler: Proprietor

Range: Octomore

Bottle Code: L165405 22/084 2022/03/15 17:19

Presentation: Unchillfiltered and natural color

Details: Mainland Concerto Barley peated to 137.3 PPM, matured for 5 years in Bourbon barrels

Price: $150-180

Availability: Years ago, my local specialty shop (Jubilation) sometimes carried Octomore, but I haven’t seen it there in years. If you live in a larger metro area, you might be luckier, but your best bet is an online retailer, such as Fine Drams. Since bottlings are limited, this one won’t be around forever.

Distillery Information:

Region: Islay

Location: Port Charlotte, Lochindaal

Geography: Coastal

Date Founded: 1881

Owner: Remy Cointreau

Website: https://www.bruichladdich.com/

Capacity: 1,500,000

Plant Summary: MASH TUN: Flat bottom, open top; WASHBACKS: 6 Wood; STILLS: 4; HEAT SOURCE: Steam; CONDENSER: Shell and Tube

Total expressions sampled: 1 Octomore, 1 Port Charlotte, 3 Bruichladdich

Overall distillery score: A-
If you enjoyed this review and would like to make a small donation to support this site, please click here.