The main whisky produced at Islay distillery Bruichladdich, the Classic Laddie, is an unpeated single malt. But the distillery also makes Octomore, a collection of some of the most heavily peated whisky in the world that is virtually off the charts in terms of phenol levels. For the Fèis Ìle festival later this month, Bruichladdich is launching a limited-edition Octomore whisky that is the oldest version of this smoke bomb to date, and has a very interesting makeup.
The first Octomore whisky came out in 2008, and it has been released annually since then. Typically, there are three or four different expressions, all of which are very, very smoky: 8.3 was bottled at 309 PPM, or parts per million, which the distillery said was the smokiest whisky ever produced at the time. Despite all that peat, there is quite a bit of nuance to the whisky, each of which is bottled relatively young for a scotch (often around five years old) and is aged in different types of casks including one expression made from a specific barley varietal.
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The new Octomore Polyphonic, however, is a 15-year-old whisky that is includes some previous expressions from this collection that have been aged for much longer than when they were originally released. “Octomore Polyphonic is a unique and complex expression which involves various components of our super-heavily peated spirit,” said head distiller Adam Hannett in a recent Spirits Business article. “We’ve selected iconic, cult releases of the past which have continued to age in cask beyond their original bottling–as well as rare and exceptional single casks which have never been bottled before.”
The components, or the tracklist as the distillery is calling it, were inspired by Bruichladdich’s Black Arts release and are as follows: 2005 first fill Grenache single cask; 2007 first fill bourbon barrel (the first Octomore made from barley grown at the eponymous farm); 2009 second fill Sauternes cask; Octomore 6.3, Masterclass 8.2, and 8.4; and Event Horizon from 2019. The final whisky was bottled at 54.9 percent ABV, and while the final phenol level is not revealed the component whiskies range from 162.6 to 173.8 PPM—which is pretty damn smoky. The palate is said to have notes of freshly baked pastry, golden syrup, ground coffee, sea salt, warm sand, and beach bonfire smoke.
As mentioned earlier, this whisky is being released to celebrate Fèis Ìle, the annual Islay festival that takes place from May 23 to May 31. You can find Polyphonic available to purchase at the distillery during the festival (SRP £300, or about $400), or you can purchase it directly from the Bruichladdich website. You can also find other Bruichladdich whiskies, including past Octomore releases, at websites like ReserveBar now.
Authors
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Jonah Flicker