Bruichladdich Octomore 01.1 Edition 5 Year Old

Octomore 5yo 63.5% OB 01.1 edition PPM: 131; bottle # 4333; (opened 10/10/2010 re-bottled 9/4/2011; re-re-bottled 5/31/2012)

I opened this bottle on my birthday on 10/10/2010. And yes, I opened it at 10:10pm. I bought it at Binny’s in Chicago the previous year. I think I paid around $180 plus tax for it. What I do remember is that this was the easiest buying decision I have ever maid. There was no hem and hawing over it. I was in Chicago for Thanksgiving visiting my sister in 2009. I blissfully walked into a Binny’s . . . and saw the black tube. There was no hesitation; I simply had to have it. Easiest $200 single whisky purchase I have ever made. Since I opened this bottle I have tasted it (taking notes) on 6 occasions from 2010 until I finished it off this summer 2013. I will say that after one year of being open I decanted it to a 375 mL bottle. When that got down to half I decanted it to a 187mL bottle. And then ran that guy dry. The ratings have gone: 95, 92.5, 92, 92, 94, 90. The average is really at 92.58, and I will round up. I do think decanting kept this whisky from totally turning bitter or sour.

Nose: Strangely fruity at first but with some diesel oil in the back ground. Now the deep peat flavors along with some smoke. Old leather shoes and shoe laces, sandy beaches, rock salt, and bonfire. However, I am most taken by the hay and cow stables. They are clean in a way unlike Brora or BenRiach. This is almost soft compared to the Ardbeg Corry and Laphroaig 10yo Cask Strength. There is something very ethereal and austere about this nose. It reminds me of huge stone blocks along the ocean. It is certainly the thinnest tone of the night (then Ardbeg with Laphroaig being the biggest “tone” nose). So hay, and then more astringent hay . . . all on a huge bed of peat. If the Ardbeg Corry is a soaring tenor then the Octomore is a sultry soprano that sounds breathy but intriguing. There doesn’t appear to be as much power here, but looks can be deceiving. Clean hay, clean peat, and clean watering trough. I can almost smell the clean pigs (so unlike Brora’s wet dogs and goats). Unlit charcoal and butane . . . gas fumes, maybe unlit firecrackers? Now clean manure and more stable. Wow this is very different then I remember! After the Corry (which is that soaring tenor) this seems a notch or two higher in tone, but softer and with more depth. The Corry is singing at full power where the Octomore is deafening you with a breathy seduction. It is working. With water reduced to 46%: Amazing still. Now there is smoked sea salt and smoked butter. Very buttery, and also very herbal. Like putting your face in a wonderful fire: extremely dry and austere.

Taste: Sweet fruit: strawberries, raspberries, some citrus, candied peaches and pears developing into a huge smoking peat power. Now peat and searing ocean salt . . . mouth on fire. You can hold it in your mouth only slightly longer then the Supernova. This slowly develops until you can’t help but swallow. With water reduced to 46%: Still amazing sweet berries, fruit, amazing and buttery. Now peat, salt, wood fire, and smoke.

Finish: A gigantic wave of the sea pulls all the moisture out of your mouth causing you to take in a huge breath just to catch yourself from falling into a black hole of peat. Tons of sweet peat flame all the way to eternity. It just seems to go on and on . . . wave after wave of peat gently washing over your decimated body. And the fire just smolders for an age and a half before it slowly dies down to blazing embers of peat . . . the sweet and salty go on forever. Now that is a finish. Total ruination! And then another wave of peat crashes over your head . . . With water reduced to 46%: Maybe the biggest finish with water (compared to the Corry and Laphraoig 10yo CS). Huge peat, smoke, and a few farm notes. So much flavor and intensity here. The flavor is of ancient earth and stone. I am tasting the sea meeting Stonehenge. It is masterful. Love this finish.

Complexity, Balance: Not as complex or balanced as I would like. . . but then it is amazing at only five years old. So I will take off points for an unbalanced finish compared to the nose and taste (which all were enjoyable). I really like guy at only 5 years of age. You would be hard pressed to find a more complex or well balanced 5 year old . . . but still I have to be honest. That said I am afraid I will find it too tame at ten and boring at twenty years.

Aesthetic experience: There are parts that I love about this bottle and parts I hate. I love the idea, but hate the shape. Love the color and hate the colored bottle. Looks like a Chardonnay wine. Love the ABV, ncf, and info on the bottle, Hate that I can’t tell how much is left in the bottle. Love that this is the first edition. Hate the price for a five year old whisky. I mean seriously . . . $185? What could possibly be the manufacture costs between this and the Port Charlotte? Oh, well. It is super cool.

Conclusion: I really, really enjoyed this bottle. But the price is a killjoy. My hope was that when they finally got around to releasing a regular release (like Port Charlotte An Turas Mor) that they would bring down the ABV . . . and the price. But when the Octomore 10yo did arrive (at around $300 and only 50% ABV) I was disgusted. No thanks. Seriously, I have to be made to understand how a 10yo whisky, CURRENTLY BEING PRODUCED, could demand a $300 price tag (which of course sold out). Please Bruichladdich, explain why making Octomore takes so much more work and effort that it is over 6 times the cost of making standard Laddie Ten? Let the consumer know and I would happily pay for the product - if the cost were justifiable. Sorry, rant over.

Final Conclusion: Wonderful, delicate, austere, peat monster. Much thinner then Ardbeg or Laphroaig. It is more complex then Laphroaig 10yo CS, but not the Ardbeg. Still, it is intriguing on the nose, and powerful on the finish. I like it a lot. It is an experience all peat lovers much have.

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