My first foray into the 11th series of Octomore! The ppm numbers are up over the previous series' bottlings, and there's a 10-year old rather than an 11.4, although virgin oak is still involved. But other than that it's basically business as usual.
While I certainly enjoyed the 10-series Octomore releases, they were very unconventional as far as Bruichladdich's already-unconventional Octomores go. Significantly lower peat levels across the range, both in the ppm numbers and more importantly in the actual smell & taste where it counts, plus the ages being all over the place with an 8-year old 10.2, the change to a 6-year old Islay Barley with 10.3, and the absolutely bonkers 3-year old virgin oak-matured 10.4. And despite it being the least peaty of the pack the Sauternes cask-finished 10.2 is still my pick of the foursome. In fact it's the least peaty Octomore that I've tasted to date, with the possible exception of the bonkers X4+10 quadruple-distilled oddity. There were some that struggled with the concept of an Octomore that was not particularly peaty, and I can understand that, but the overall quality and depth of flavour was still there in spades. The 'entry-level' 10.1 was the most typical of the bunch, as they usually are, holding down the fort while the other three bottlings in the series were off on some wild acid-trip! Some were a little disappointed with this series, particularly with it being the 10th series of Octomore which is certainly something to celebrate. And while they're different styles of whisky it does seem that the peaty & punchy gap between Port Charlotte and Octomore is closing, with the former bounding ahead while the latter flounders. For some reason we're still waiting for Port Charlotte OLC01 to arrive in Australia despite it being bottled 14-15 months ago, but by all reports it's an excellent whisky - if it ever gets here I might be able to tell you! Since the packaging update and renewed focus on the Port Charlotte brand it really does seem to be going from strength-to-strength (take MRC01 for example!), and is certainly not playing second fiddle to Bruichladdich and Octomore any longer. Which is great to see!
Back to the topic at hand. It does seem like the 11-series is something of a return to the tried & tested Octomore formula; with a 5-year old 11.1 from first-fill ex-bourbon casks, a 5-year old 11.2 finished in red wine casks, a 5-year old 11.3 from ex-bourbon casks and with a healthy jump up to 194 ppm following 10.3's record-low (for an Islay Barley Octomore) 114, and a 10-year old filling in the fourth spot on the team - although it's had some virgin oak maturation thrown into the mix just to spice things up. So the entry level of the 11 series, the always satisfying _.1 Octomore, is another 5-year old single malt that has been fully matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks. This time it was distilled in 2014 from barley peated to 139.6 ppm - do we really need the decimals, Bruichladdich? - and those first-fill casks were sourced from Jim Beam, Heaven Hill and Jack Daniels. One point in the blurb for 11.1 does stick out - they've used both the common Concerto barley and also Propino barley, a strain that I was not familiar with, and as far as I'm aware this is its first outing in an Octomore. From a little research it seems that Propino was once the most popular barley variety in Britain, but now makes up less than 5% of planted varieties. I do believe that barley varieties make a marked difference in whisky, but it's hard to compare apples to apples since a myriad of other variables could be just as responsible for any change in character. Regardless, with such relatively high peating levels as found in Octomore those differences are going to be harder to spot. But regardless, such details are all part of the provenance.
Octomore 11.1 was distilled in 2014 from that 139.6 ppm barley, and was bottled at 59.4%. Being a Bruichladdich product it's naturally non-chill filtered and naturally coloured. The sample for this review came from a generous fellow whisky nerd. Time to find out how the latest _.1 Octomore fares!
Distilled 2014 from Scottish barley peated to 139.6 ppm, matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks from Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and Heaven Hill. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.
Colour: White wine, pale gold.
Nose: Whoa, lemons!! Loads of fresh lemon rind, sweeter lemon oils and waxed whole lemons. A little ashy peat smoke, freshly-dried sweet malted barley, touch of salty, almost chalky minerality and black pepper. Some BBQ'd lemon & leafy green herbs on fresh white fish. Muddy peat behind.
Texture: Medium weight, surprisingly clean for an Octomore, only lightly oily. A definite spirit-y heat to it but not unpleasant.
Taste: Loads of oily, waxy lemon again, plus some vanilla cream. Spirit-y heat again alongside soft muddy peat and ashy smoke. Slightly farmyard-y and with a floral syrup sweetness. Leafy herbs and fresh red chilli, and a touch of sweet ripe pineapple.
Finish: Medium length. Charred wood, chunky peat and black pepper. That spirit-y heat coming through again, giving the salivary glands a workout. Then a sweet floral honey sweetness and a touch of vanilla again. Dried red chilli now, with slight sweet stone fruit and a few fresh bandages over on the other side of the room.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: The nose is the star of this show! Loads of lemon, more than I remember finding in any recent Octomore, and malty sweetness, and while more subdued than most _.1 Octomores, particularly the older batches (prior to batch 9), the peat is still there. Across the nose, palate and finish there are also touches of the farmyard-y, medicinal and coastal characters that Octomores show, but while they usually tend to lean in one of those three directions 11.1 is more of a balancing act between all three, so it comes off as a little muted in comparison. But it's not really, it's just more evenly balanced in character. And while 5-year old Octomores at ~60% ABV are never gentle drams, it's also considerably hotter, as in spirit-y/alcohol heat, than I remember 10.1 being, despite the strengths being quite similar (59.8% for the 10.1). There also seems to be less cask influence here, slightly less fruit and less vanilla, but still with the charred oak that these lower ppm _.1 bottlings seem to show. Or at least that the last few versions have shown.
I think the _.1 bottling in each batch of Octomore tends to set the tone for the series, but each & every Octomore is still vastly different, so now, as usual, I'm going to have to chase down drams of the rest of the series. Despite there being over thirty different bottlings of Octomore to date (not counting Feis bottles, OBA and Futures, etc.), and despite the price increases and constant leaps in demand and popularity, the quality has remained high. The whisky in these slender, opaque bottles very rarely disappoints.
Cheers!
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