Bruichladdich Octomore 01.1

This is the first release of Bruichladdich’s super heavily peated single malt, Octomore.  Five years old with no colouring, and no chill-filtration.  Peated to a previously unheard of 131ppm, and bottled (in an extremely sexy tall opaque black bottle) at cask strength of 63.5% ABV. The first retail release of the Octomore series – the result of a “what if” moment from Jim McEwan.  This whisky was released in 2008, three years before the release of the whisky that would really cement Bruichladdich’s position on the world whisky maps, the Laddie Ten; and four years before Rémy Cointreau made their £58 million play for the distillery.  That’s not to say that the whisky world didn’t pay attention to the release of Octomore; it’s hard to release the single most heavily peated whisky on the planet – from a whisky known for releasing whisky with little or no peat – and slip it under the radar.

This whisky is quite rough (though not necessarily in a bad way) – more like a Laphroaig Quarter Cask (a whisky that I’m not at all adverse to popping the cork of) with the peat ramped up than anything from Bruichladdich.  Lots of salt and char on both the palate and in the finish.  Unlike later releases of Octomore, this one also has a decent amount of burn – both in the mouth, and in the finish.