“Smoke on the Water”
Whisky Review # 837
Country: Scotland
Region: Islay
Brand: Bruichladdich Octomore 06.1 (167 PPM) - Scottish Barley Series
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky - Limited Edition- 18000 Bottles
Age: 5 Years
Age: 5 Years
Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 57%
Maturation: Ex-Bourbon casks
Chill Filtration: No
Price Range: US$ 140-190 (October 2019)
Price/Quality Ratio: 👎Way too expensive for a 5-year old Single Malt.
Buying Advice: 😀If you love peated young Islay, go for it!
Colour:
Golden Straw (Natural Colour)
Nose:
At 167 PPM and 57% ABV I was kind of expecting a Peat Explosion that would blow my mind away. The Peat is there of course and so is the Alcohol. It smells like a Young Islay but in a pleasant mellow way. Be sure to give this Octomore enough time in the glass as it opens up slowly.
Main Aromas:
Toasted Barley, slightly Burnt Buttered Toast, Salted Caramel, Straw mixed with Cow Manure, Sea Water, Dirty Peat, Cold Smoke, Iodine, Band-Aid, TCP Pipes, Tar, Ashes, Bacon on the BBQ, Green Apple, Lemon, Burnt Herbs, Pepper and Leather.
Supportive Aroma Accents:
Heather-Honey, Vanilla, Grass, Salted Nuts, Cooked Vegetables, Yeast, Cherry-Flavoured Cough Syrup, Oak Char and Mint.
Palate:
Octomore 6.1 shows its Youth here. The Alcohol is strong & not yet integrated. This Octomore would certainly benefit from a longer maturation. It still holds its peaty ground though! A bit Sweeter as expected though.
Main Flavours:
Toasted Barley, Burnt Toast, Salted Caramel, Dirty Peat, Cold Smoke, Ashes, TCP Pipes, Tar, Soot, Iodine, Band-Aid, Straw mixed with Cow Manure, Green Apple, Lemon, Pepper, Menthol and Ginger.
Supportive Flavour Accents:
Heather-Honey, Vanilla, Cherry-Flavoured Cough Syrup, Roasted Nuts, Roasted Coffee, Oak, Char, Bitter Orange-Juice, Grass, Bacon on the BBQ, Burnt Herbs, Licorice and Nutmeg.
Finish:
Bitter-Sweet and very Long. Medium Dry towards the end. It's like sucking on a peated TCP Pipe! It just goes on and on. It's a very young Whisky of course and the Alcohol is quite noticeable. But somehow it works. I find Toasted Barley, Burnt Toast, Straw mixed with Cow Manure, Dirty Peat, Cold Smoke, Tar, Soot, Ashes, Iodine, Band-Aid, TCP Pipes, Burnt Herbs, Green Apple, Lemon, Salted Nuts, Salted Caramel, Bacon on the BBQ, Oak Char, Licorice, Pepper, Ginger, Menthol and Coffee-Flavoured Dark Chocolate.
Drinking Advice:
I added a little Water and the Octomore starts to smell like peated Grist that most of you have probably smelled more than once when fortunate enough to visit a distillery. The Malt shines as well. Cold Smoke and Plastic reign on the Palate and in the shorter Finish. You can carefully experiment with a few drops at a time.
Rating: 85
Nose: 21.5 - Taste: 21 - Finish: 21 - Overall: 21.5
Drinking Experience Neat: Good
Conclusion:
Bruichladdich was founded in 1881 by Barnett Harvey. During its history it was mothballed various times, the last time in 1998. In 2012 the Islay distillery was bought by Remy Cointreau (France). Since, Bruichladdich is showing a healthy growth again. The distillery produces 3 types of Single Malt, i.e. the unpeated Bruichladdich, the heavily peated Port Charlotte and the very heavily peated Octomore. The basic core range for Bruichladdich includes The Classic Laddie, Islay Barley 2010 & Black Art 5. The annual production amounts to around one million litres.
The Octomore 06.1 was released in 2013. This is my first Octomore distillery bottling and I was expecting sort of a Peat Bomb. There's a lot of Peat of course and you gotta like that to fully appreciate an Octomore. But to me it's actually quite Mellow, especially on the Nose. It's young peated Islay Malt on steroids. Not for everybody and not for everyday but certainly warming after a long walk along the Islay coast on a cold and misty morning.
Cheers!
Jan van den Ende October 10, 2019
Maturation: Ex-Bourbon casks
Chill Filtration: No
Price Range: US$ 140-190 (October 2019)
Price/Quality Ratio: 👎Way too expensive for a 5-year old Single Malt.
Buying Advice: 😀If you love peated young Islay, go for it!
Colour:
Golden Straw (Natural Colour)
Nose:
At 167 PPM and 57% ABV I was kind of expecting a Peat Explosion that would blow my mind away. The Peat is there of course and so is the Alcohol. It smells like a Young Islay but in a pleasant mellow way. Be sure to give this Octomore enough time in the glass as it opens up slowly.
Main Aromas:
Toasted Barley, slightly Burnt Buttered Toast, Salted Caramel, Straw mixed with Cow Manure, Sea Water, Dirty Peat, Cold Smoke, Iodine, Band-Aid, TCP Pipes, Tar, Ashes, Bacon on the BBQ, Green Apple, Lemon, Burnt Herbs, Pepper and Leather.
Supportive Aroma Accents:
Heather-Honey, Vanilla, Grass, Salted Nuts, Cooked Vegetables, Yeast, Cherry-Flavoured Cough Syrup, Oak Char and Mint.
Octomore 6.1 shows its Youth here. The Alcohol is strong & not yet integrated. This Octomore would certainly benefit from a longer maturation. It still holds its peaty ground though! A bit Sweeter as expected though.
Main Flavours:
Toasted Barley, Burnt Toast, Salted Caramel, Dirty Peat, Cold Smoke, Ashes, TCP Pipes, Tar, Soot, Iodine, Band-Aid, Straw mixed with Cow Manure, Green Apple, Lemon, Pepper, Menthol and Ginger.
Supportive Flavour Accents:
Heather-Honey, Vanilla, Cherry-Flavoured Cough Syrup, Roasted Nuts, Roasted Coffee, Oak, Char, Bitter Orange-Juice, Grass, Bacon on the BBQ, Burnt Herbs, Licorice and Nutmeg.
Finish:
Bitter-Sweet and very Long. Medium Dry towards the end. It's like sucking on a peated TCP Pipe! It just goes on and on. It's a very young Whisky of course and the Alcohol is quite noticeable. But somehow it works. I find Toasted Barley, Burnt Toast, Straw mixed with Cow Manure, Dirty Peat, Cold Smoke, Tar, Soot, Ashes, Iodine, Band-Aid, TCP Pipes, Burnt Herbs, Green Apple, Lemon, Salted Nuts, Salted Caramel, Bacon on the BBQ, Oak Char, Licorice, Pepper, Ginger, Menthol and Coffee-Flavoured Dark Chocolate.
Drinking Advice:
I added a little Water and the Octomore starts to smell like peated Grist that most of you have probably smelled more than once when fortunate enough to visit a distillery. The Malt shines as well. Cold Smoke and Plastic reign on the Palate and in the shorter Finish. You can carefully experiment with a few drops at a time.
Rating: 85
Nose: 21.5 - Taste: 21 - Finish: 21 - Overall: 21.5
Drinking Experience Neat: Good
Conclusion:
Bruichladdich was founded in 1881 by Barnett Harvey. During its history it was mothballed various times, the last time in 1998. In 2012 the Islay distillery was bought by Remy Cointreau (France). Since, Bruichladdich is showing a healthy growth again. The distillery produces 3 types of Single Malt, i.e. the unpeated Bruichladdich, the heavily peated Port Charlotte and the very heavily peated Octomore. The basic core range for Bruichladdich includes The Classic Laddie, Islay Barley 2010 & Black Art 5. The annual production amounts to around one million litres.
The Octomore 06.1 was released in 2013. This is my first Octomore distillery bottling and I was expecting sort of a Peat Bomb. There's a lot of Peat of course and you gotta like that to fully appreciate an Octomore. But to me it's actually quite Mellow, especially on the Nose. It's young peated Islay Malt on steroids. Not for everybody and not for everyday but certainly warming after a long walk along the Islay coast on a cold and misty morning.
Cheers!
Jan van den Ende October 10, 2019
All pictures were taken during our visit in May 2014
