Octomore 7.1

59,5%

Aged in virgin American Oak casks

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Octomore is the super heavily peated line of Bruichladdich. Every year, different .X expressions arrive on the market, expressing variations of the same idea : producing a very, very, very peated Scotch. With expression 8.1 arriving soon in Canada, I though it was time to visit the latest expression the North has received.

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Bruichladdich has harvest barley from the mainland of Scotland and has peated it at 208 PPM, making it the heavilest peated whisky in the world at the time (edition 8.1 will be 368…!!! ).

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Color : very very pale.

Nose : ribs of pork on charcoal with BBQ sauce. Smoked applewood under the BBQ. Fresh peat. Smells like when you get to the harbor and you take a deep breath : industrial smoke.

Palate : surprisingly very round and soft … I definitely did not expect that. We keep the smoke, but more in the classic spirit of Islay, with a strong presence of peat … very, very strong. The new American oak brings a sweet touch and complicates the whiskey (all the flavors are light): citrus, small Martiniquais punch. Aging at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean brings with it a maritime side: seaweed, sea salt, smoked salmon. No feeling of high alcohol.

Finish : short but with a pronounced aftertaste and long peat. Again, the whiskey is so peaty and well done that the almost 60% of alcohol does not feel at all.

Comments : a whisky that interested me a lot, but whose hype worried me too. And I am absolutely not disappointed with the result, quite the contrary. The use of new oak barrels and the very young age leaves room for the cereal very heavily peated to express itself. A high-end whiskey in terms of flavors (for peat lovers) at a price accessible to connoisseurs.