Octomore 10 Year Old (2020 / 11 Series / Fourth Edition) Whisky Review!

The fourth edition of 10-year old Octomore, distilled from 208 ppm barley this time - the highest to date in a 10-year old - and bottled in late 2020. 

As much as the "standard" 5-year old Octomores can be delicious, when that number is doubled Bruichladdich's super-heavily peated whisky takes on a different persona. They're still peaty of course, but they're more rounded, more balanced and of course more mature. Obviously that differs by release, with different peat levels and different cask types involved each time, and with some being more cask-influenced than others, and some being more peat-influenced than others. But in general these older Octomores tend to be delicious, and a little less... confronting & aggressive than their younger brethren often are, particularly to relative newcomers. Due to the extra age these 10-year olds have always been significantly more expensive than the regular five-year old Octomores, save the Islay Barley bottlings anyway. None of these Octomores are budget-friendly whiskies, and said newcomers looking at a 10-year old Octomore at $300 AUD next to a 10-year old Ardbeg at $90 AUD  - or even a 10-year old Port Charlotte from the same distillery as the Octomore, at $110 AUD - might be a little confused. The first couple of appearances of a 10-year old were very special things, because they were rare and unusual things for the brand, but now as a regular occurrence they may have lost some of their allure in favour of the Islay Barley _.3 and the wine cask-finished _.2 bottlings that are seen to be more "exotic". Although they too have also crept, or in some cases jumped, up in price over the last couple of years. 

This "Dialogos" bottling from late 2020 was the fourth 10-year old Octomore (not counting the completely bonkers X4+10) that we've seen to date, released roughly alongside the 11th series of bottlings that was named 'Dialogos' (meaning "discussion"). The first 10 was released back in 2012 alongside Octomore 5.1, and it was distilled from 80.5 ppm barley and matured in ex-bourbon casks. The second was released in 2016, distilled from 167 ppm barley and matured in ex-bourbon and Grenache Blanc white wine casks. Then the third 10-year old release from late 2018 was where things started to get complicated, with port, cognac, ex-bourbon and virgin oak casks all thrown into the mix. Then we arrive at this fourth release of a 10-year old Octomore, distilled from 208 ppm barley (the highest in a 10-year old to date) and bottled in late 2020. Frankly the cask recipe for this one seems a bit of a complicated jumble! There were 77 casks in total in the vatting: 46 of them were full-term maturation first-fill ex-bourbon casks. Then 15 first-fill ex-bourbon casks that were aged for 5-6 years then filled into second fill ex-bourbon casks for the next 4-5 years. And the remaining 16 casks started off as a 'parcel' of 20% virgin oak casks and 80% first-fill ex-bourbon casks that were finished in second-fill virgin oak that was then vatted together at 8-years of age and filled into second-fill ex-bourbon casks in 2018. That latter part is interesting because of the virgin oak influence, and because it sounds like a similar maturation recipe to the virgin oak-influenced 8.4 8-year old, up until the finishing in second-fill bourbon casks for another two years. So basically this is a combination of first-fill ex-bourbon full maturation, and first-fill ex-bourbon finished in second-fill ex-bourbon, and first & second-fill virgin oak finished in second-fill ex-bourbon. Phew! That's one hell of a mouthful, and Bruichladdich aren't holding back any of the details. These guys don't really do anything by halves!

At the time of writing this fourth iteration of 10-year old Octomore is still available in Australia, with pricing ranging from $280-320 AUD. Not exactly cheap, but $50 more than the 5-year old 12.1 from the subsequent series is not an unreasonable difference given the age difference. Like many whiskies the Octomore pricing has certainly gone through the roof over the last couple of years, particularly for the _.3 Islay Barley releases and the wine cask finished/matured _.2 editions that were once travel retail / duty free exclusive prior to the pandemic. The new fifth edition of a 10-year old Octomore that was recently released is going for 160 pounds plus shipping, which for those of us in Australia would come to around AUD$500 once customs & DHL have ruined the party by sticking their dirty fingers in the cake. Rather tellingly that new 10-year old is still available from the distillery's website at the time of writing which is well-over a month after release. That's despite only 3,500 bottles being available, and its delicious-sounding recipe of 5-years in ex-bourbon casks and 5-years in Spanish red wine casks. That's the issue with only selling directly from a distillery's website, it's fine for British and (some) European buyers who just pay the VAT and the smaller shipping charge, but once you go further afield it becomes a seriously expensive proposition for many. And when the local duty, taxes, customs and courier charges are particularly nasty like ours here in Australia, it becomes a prohibitively expensive purchase, even for hardcore fans of the distillery. Even more so when this fourth edition can still be found on local shelves for far less money and significantly less trouble. 

So, Octomore 10-year old Fourth Edition. Distilled 2009 from Scottish barley peated to 208 ppm and bottled in late 2020 at 54.3% ABV, naturally without chill filtration or added colouring. Let's see how it goes!

Octomore 10-Year Old, Fourth Edition, 54.3%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled 2009 from 208 ppm barley, bottled late 2020 alongside 11-series. Matured in combination of first-fill ex-bourbon, second-fill ex-bourbon, and virgin oak finished in second-fill ex-bourbon. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 12,000 bottles. 

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Creamy, citrus-y and smoky. Creamy caramel fudge, dried orange, sharp lemon, meaty & herbal dry peat smoke, and sweet charred wood. Raw fatty smoked bacon, dark chocolate, touch of aniseed and black pepper, toasted coconut. Icing sugar and creamy peach yoghurt around the edges. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Thick, creamy & syrupy. Sweet & smoky. Warming, but no heat. 

Taste: Syrupy sweet entry with charred & caramelised wood & creamy caramel fudge. Then thick ashy peat smoke, dark chocolate, burnt smoked bacon and dried orange. Touches of aniseed and leather in the background. Some peach & nectarine in there too. 

Finish: Medium length. Thick smoke carries through, then the creamy lactic sweetness returns with that creamy caramel fudge. Vanilla pokes through here, as does white chocolate and a little more peach & nectarine, plus a little sea salt. Charred wood & black pepper to finish. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Very Bruichladdich, with that creamy & sugared lactic note, and the citrus and subtle salt showing through nicely - even in a 10-year old Octomore where the barley was smoked to within an inch of it's life! Really this is a grown up version of one of the 5-year old _.1 Octomores, a little calmer, a little more life experience, but with plenty of character and still packing a punch - in terms of phenols, but also with that creamy & viscous texture that helps to hide the ABV very well on the palate. This 10-year old 4th Edition is not the most "out there" or extreme Octomore in terms of flavour or cask influence (looking at you, 10.4!), but there's plenty of character on offer and while the wood influence is definitely noticeable, it's well balanced against the smoke and creamy sweetness. If memory serves this 10-year old is significantly smokier than the 11.1 from the same series and the 12.1 that came later, despite both of those being half the age. And that's not usually the case when comparing a 10-year old to one of the 5-year old upstarts. 

I was ready to be underwhelmed by this one, if I'm honest. Or at least unmoved by it. Mainly because of the virgin oak involvement, and the relatively conservative casks that made up the remainder of the recipe, and also because of the number of 10-year old Octomores that we've seen lately and the hefty price tags that came along with them. But I should've known better. Satisfying, sweet & smoky Octomore that shows the distillery character nicely, and has carried its age quite well by rounding off the edges. Very nice. 

Cheers!