This year’s funky Feis Ile bottling prize has to go to Bruichladdich, who have always been the quirky guy on the block when it comes to crazy finishes, and unique bottlings. Octomore is ridiculously peated anyways, add a Quad distillation process!!! and what do you get? you get an Ultra peated whisky at almost 70% ABV… which started its way as new make spirit at 89%!!! ABV. Yep, this is not one of those delicate drams isn’t it. Well anyways, after the spirit has was reduced a bit with water, it was put into Oloroso sherry butts and then aged for 7 years. Regular Octomores are 5 year old, and there was a one off edition aged for 10 years, so this is also quite unique in that regard, Whatever the spirit tastes likes, you got to give it to Bruichladdich for bringing out a very unique and intersting whisky for the festival, Well done guys! (This is opposed to a few other distilleries who put a rather un-intriguing whisky profile for this year’s festival : *hint hint*).
7 Year Old Quadruple-Distilled Octomore – Feis Ile 2014 , 69.5%
Nose: Starting out quite lemony. I’m getting lots of lemon Popsicles, Like my kids love eating in summer. Then quite a bit of creamy vanilla , leather and lots of alcohol. No wonder eh? Not a lot of peat. Adding a splash of water does bring out more of it. Wood smoke and some earthy dirty peat, and a hint of bacon.
Palate: Whoa!! Damn. This is some abv. What a mouthful. Explosive! (Sorry). Hot chilly. Lots of cured bacon. Soot. Wood smoke. Pepper and Demerara sugar. Very sooty. Dirty leather. Even hints of farm yard.
Finish : Lemon pie. Leather. Vanilla. Bacon. very nice and creamy.
For a dram that is close to being 70% ABV, this is surprisingly drinkable and approachable, without the need for a lot of water to tame it down. I do think a splash of the old ‘aqua’ will help it, and bring out the nice wood smoke and more of that bacon. One of the creamiest Octomores to date (if you can call it Creamy), and certainly a nice sip. Having said all that, It’s not my favourite all time Octomore. Still does not reach the heights of the Orpheus. A solid dram, in a beautiful bottle, very appealing to the peat freak no doubt.
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