Octomore 12 year old 2007 Event Horizon, for Feis Ile 2019

Amidst all of Bruichladdich's words about this 2019 Feis Ile release, there isn't a single mention of the whole "Event Horizon" name, so I'm just going to assume they're referencing the craptacular "You can't leave, she won't let you" turdburger Sam Neill ham sandwich I enjoyed in the theater twenty-three (o.m.g.) years ago, rather than a black hole's gravitational sphere.

According to that same marketing blurb, this is the oldest Octomore release yet, and from 100% sherry casks. A big thank you to Doctor Weir Springbank for the sample!

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Brand: Octomore
Ownership: Remy Cointreau
Region: Islay
Age: minimum 12 years (2007-2019)
Maturation: four (oloroso and PX) sherry butts
Outturn: 2000 bottles
PPM: 162.2
Alcohol by Volume: 55.7%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

NEAT
Yep, it stinks up the whole room. The nose has lots of everything, fruity and nutty sherries, hefty smoke and soot, orange and cherry jellos, pine needles and briny shellfish. The absurdly sweet palate mixes cinnamon syrup with moo shu plum sauce with apricot jam. Tart oranges and barbecue sauce. Charred beef and ham. Ashes from a grass fire. Barbecue chicken wings lead off the finish, followed by salt, sugar, black pepper and apricot jam under a blanket of smoke.

DILUTED TO ~50%abv, or ⅔ tsp of water per 30mL whisky
The nose becomes mintier and more chocolatey, but with a simpler peat smoke. There's more rubber and plastic, and a blob of almond butter. More char and ash in the palate now. The moo shu plum sauce remains, now combined with smoked chipotles and woody bitterness. The sticky sweet finish is all berry jams and citrus marmalades and wood smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
With its outrageous peat levels and high abv, Octomore was designed to be loud. Three year olds can't easily find their inside voices, and it's understandable when five or six year olds struggle to do the same. But at 12 years? I need ear plugs. Thus when a spirit with a 162.2ppm peat level is left in hyperactive juicy casks for more than a decade, the resulting deafening volume is no accident.

That's not to say this whisky is bad, rather it's to illustrate that "depth" (the official wording) isn't gained from this sort of maturation, in fact almost all of the 5yo bourbon cask Octomores I've had were more complex than this. The Event Horizon works best as a pairing whisky, likely to work well with chocolate or vanilla desserts, even better with a cigar. And despite the above critique, I also encourage you to drink this at full power because dilution renders the whisky's third act just as messy at the film's.

An odd start to 2021.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - was £175 at Feis Ile, though it's a lot more now!
Rating - 84 neat only

Octomore Edition 09.1

ALL HAIL LORD OCTOMORE!

Burp.

King Kong ain't got nothin' on me ... Right? 

--Lord Octomore

Editions 07.1 and 08.1 smelled great, but trended towards mono-dimensional violence in the palate. This was a surprise because I've enjoyed previous editions, and a disappointment because I've been considering treating myself to a bottle. I say this partially because 03.1, 05.1 and the first 10yo were very very good, and partially because Lord Octomore is looking over my shoulder... I am now being told that I will buy a bottle no matter what... Okay that's very reasonable, considering how cheap this is for 5 year old whisky. No, Your Eight-Flippered Glory, that was not sarcasm.

I should start the review now.

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Brand: Octomore

Ownership: Remy Cointreau

Region: Peatsburg

Maturation: American oak casks

Age: minimum 5 years (bottled 2018)

Alcohol by Volume: 59.1%
PPM: 156

NEAT

Forest fire 😪, peanuts, soil and chalk dust in the nose. Lots of ethyl. Mint and cocoa in the middle of a peat bog. The palate is *whew* big and hawt. Very green. Dried grasses, tomatillo sauce. Er, peat. Bitter chocolate and burnt things. Heat and smoke in the finish. A little bit earthy and sweet.

DILUTED TO ~50%abv, or >1tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Not much going on in the nose. Peat, cinnamon, mint and horseradish. In the palate, there's a pinch of sugar and a bag of peppercorns. Dried herbs and dirt. Some tar, lots of tang. Smoke, earth and bitterness in the finish.

WORDS WOR.....

ALAS! Lord Octomore has been sacked, deposed, (allegedly) haggissed by those nice people who wave from their steering wheels when you cross paths on A846. Peatsburg is Islay again.

It's a good thing too, since 09.1 was not great.

Edition 09.1 has completed the descent in quality of each of these Octomores this week, and leads me to think the whole wine cask thing they're doing with other batches is a good idea. This edition has dropped below even *gasp!* Supernova levels. It's just hot, smoky and kinda limp. The nose is bereft of layers and fruit. The palate can't push beyond heat and peat. It has cured me of any interest in trying future editions.

Availability - Europe and USA
Pricing - Europe: $110-$160 (ex-VAT), USA $170-$180
Rating - 78

Octomore Edition 08.1

ALL HAIL LORD OCTOMORE! Again. This sentence is required by law.

Look upon me and you will see greatness. And also virility. Don't forget to write the virility part. --Lord Octomore

Edition 07.1 fell short of His Mercifulness's grandiloquent standards, though my saying so has likely put me at risk for a Royal Ass Whupping. All of the Octomore 08 editions were part of His Highnessness's Masterclass in mastery. 08.1 has an 8 year old age statement rather than the usual 5. Lord Octomore is generous.
Distillery: Bruichladdich
Brand: Octomore

Ownership: Remy Cointreau

Region: Peatsburg

Maturation: First fill American oak casks

Age: minimum 8 years (2008-2017)
Outturn: 42,000 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 59.3%
PPM: 167

NEAT
The nose is more aggressive than 07.1's even though this whisky is older and has a lower peat level. Once the heat subsides there's some good stuff underneath. Smoked almonds, hot asphalt, corn syrup, caramel sauce and molasses. After a while, notes of lime, vanilla and ocean appear. Hmm, the palate is gentler than 07.1's. There's some sweetness and tart citrus. Consistent, persistent wood smoke. It's salty, savory and nutty. Red Hots candies. The salt and smoke get heavier with time. It finishes salty and savory as well. Moderate smoke and pepper levels. A little bit of brown sugar.

DILUTED TO ~50%abv, or >1tsp of water per 30mL whisky
The burn lifts out of the nose, revealing smoked fish, dried oregano, lemon and hay. There are also some distant notes of plums and guava. The palate has mild brown sugar sweetness and an aggressive chili oil burst. Underneath that are oranges, cinnamon and tame peat smoke. The finish, curiously longer than when neat, is all smoke, pepper, sugar and cinnamon.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I tried 07.1 and 08.1 side by side, resulting in more of a beating than a peating. My tastebuds were scorched until the next morning.

08.1 has the same issue as 07.1, the nose provides a full, detailed experience. The palate doesn't. With water, the nose gets even better. The palate doesn't. The palate doesn't do anything most other young peated Islay malts don't also do. And the finish, though lengthy, is a half step above bland.

The gap between the nose and palate is problematic and I'm hoping Lord Octomore will let me try one more edition this week. Though will that get me in even deeper trouble with His Many Limbed Graciousness?

Availability - Europe and USA
Pricing - Europe: $100-$160 (ex-VAT), USA $160-$200
Rating - 83

Octomore Edition 07.1

ALL HAIL LORD OCTOMORE!

Though his competitors were more popular and successful, Dennis Octomore seized power through brute force, then dissolved all local governments and burned down the courts, naming himself Lord Octomore, el jefe de Peatsburg. He then had his competitors murdered, so now he is the most popular and successful and handsome in all the land.

Everyone who is not me is just terrible.

--Lord Octomore 

Thanks to the kindness of Lord Octomore, I am allowed to review Octomore 7.1. Peated at the ungodly brilliant measurement of 208 phenolic parts per million, it has the usual 5 year old Octomore age statement.

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Brand: Octomore

Ownership: Remy Cointreau

Region: Peatsburg

Maturation: American oak casks

Age: minimum 5 years (bottled 2015)

Alcohol by Volume: 59.5%
PPM: 208

NEAT
It has a well-layered nose. On one level there are dried grasses, leaves and roots. Then there's sugar, cinnamon and apples. Then there's cured meat and a hint of horse manure. It's also tangy (if one can smell "tangy") like fermented veg. The palate comes in hotter and plainer than the nose. Dried leaves and hay. Loads of peppercorns. Salt, peat smoke and hints of lemon and anise. It finishes earthy and grassy, with plenty of smoke and pepper.

DILUTED TO ~50%abv, or >1tsp of water per 30mL whisky
The nose is full of sugar and limes, as well as eucalyptus and mint extract. There are also notes of jalapeño oil and burlap. The palate is all char, ash, burnt things. It's tangier and sweeter than when neat. Also some Tabasco sauce and smoked meat. The finish is hotter, somehow. Mint and char and Tabasco.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
The combination of high ABV and stunt-level peating in a barely legal whisky is something I'd usually stay away from, but Octomore has always worked for me. Except...

Lord O is going to have my neck for this but the palate on 7.1 is both monolithic and moderate, if that makes any sense. It's huge but very simple. It's "Whew!" but "Okay". On the other hand, the nose is great, complex and pleasurable. Young but not raw. It also sets one up for a tremendous experience that the palate doesn't deliver. Yet I'm probably going to give this too high a rating because of the grand sniffer.

If His Lordship allows, another Octomore review will arrive on Wednesday.

Availability - Europe and USA
Pricing - Europe: $100-$150 (ex-VAT), USA $150-$200
Rating - 85

Single Malt Report: Octomore 10 year old (First release)

On Tuesday, the 3.1.
On Wednesday, the 5.1.
Today, the first release of the Octomore 10 year old.  Many thank yous go out to reader Eric S. for his generosity and yet another awesome sample bottle:

Five years ago, Bruichladdich released an Octomore Futures bottle, sort of an Octomore-before-1.1 edition.  It was from their first batch of very heavily peated malt.  Its ppm levels (80.5) were considerably lower than future editions (up to 169), but it still had the highest peating levels of any single malt next to Ardbeg Supernova (approx. 100ppm).  The Futures edition was five-and-a-half years old and aged in former Buffalo Trace barrels.

Scoot forward five years and now some of the barrels from that original Octomore batch were ready to be barreled at 10 years of age.  All previous versions of Octomore were 5 years old.  With more maturation time, lower ppm levels, and a lower ABV, this was a genuinely new approach to the whisky.

Daniel and I were looking forward to this one.  Because I was short a Glencairn glass, we went with a stemmed nosing glass instead.  The glass still delivered the goods.

OCTOMORE 10 YEAR OLD, FIRST EDITION


Distillery: Bruichladdich
Brand: Octomore

Ownership: Remy Cointreau

Region: Islay

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Maturation: Bourbon barrels

Age: minimum 10 years

Alcohol by Volume: 50%
PPM: 80.5
Limited release: 6,000 bottles

The color is a light gold. It's darker than the 5.1, but lighter than the 3.1.  The nose starts out almost floral.  There's licorice, perfumed hand soap, gingerbread, and candied orange peel.  There are also hints of sugary breakfast cereal (that might have been Daniel's note) and vanilla beans.  With some time and air, the whisky develops notes of apples, almond paste, mint leaves, dried herbs, baked squash, and beets.  Peated sweet bread leads the palate.  There's a little sugar, and a little salt.  Not much smoke, but rather a leafy forest floor.  The sweetness remains light with further notes of mint, white fruits, and vanilla.  The finish gets toastier and ashier, with grimier peat.  It's very oceanic and extensive.

Ignoring price and whisky politics for a moment, I think this was the best of the three Octomores we tried.  Allowing it ten full years of maturation gave it a whole new set of characteristics and complexity (oh that word).  I wouldn't doubt that the lower peat levels made a difference as well, but we'll have to see how future batches turn out.

Now, here's where things get sticky.  I've been growing disgruntled with my ratings system and will be making changes in the new year.  While I have no regrets in giving this four stars -- it would register about a 90 out of 100 -- I agree with SKU from Recent Eats that this could have been even better had they released it at full cask strength as they had with the rest of the Octomores.  Instead they watered it down to 50%.  And charged nearly $300 for it.

A ten year old, not at full strength, with a $300 price tag.  That makes this a four-star whisky that is difficult for me to recommend.  At the same price, (with some research) you can buy two bottles of full-strength Port Charlotte PC7 and two bottles of Kilchoman Machir Bay -- all of which are also young small batches, all of which are comparable in quality to the Octomore 10 or possibly better in a blind tasting.

If finances are an issue for you (as they are for me), then you can feel safe knowing the Kilchomans and some of the cask strength PCs can stand their ground against the Octomores at a fraction of the cost.  If finances are not a issue for you then this is good stuff, unique stuff (until the second edition, I guess).  It's also easy to find since folks still haven't rushed out to swoop it off the shelves en masse.  Having now tried five of the Octomores, I can say that this one, with its age and somewhat lower ppms, registers as the least stunt-like of the range, and is my favorite.

Availability - Most specialty retailers worldwide

Pricing - $240-$300 (US); $320-$400 (Europe)

Rating - 90

Single Malt Report: Octomore 5.1 / 5_169

Continuing with the Octomore three-for-all:

Yesterday, I reviewed the third Octomore release and gave a little background on the Octomore whiskies themselves.

Today, let us take look at the fifth release, weighing in at 169ppm.  If you're keeping track of the numbers, this release has the highest peated malted barley of all the Octomores so far.  Also, even though there's a ".1" after the "5", I haven't seen any subreleases.  Like the rest of the regular releases, this is a five-year-old whisky.  It sells for $200 (wut?) and had a "limited" release of 18,000 of its monolithic bottles.

Unlike the 3.1 end-of-bottle sampling from yesterday, this one came right from the top.  Daniel generously waited to open his bottle of 5.1 for this Taste Off.  He did make a very good point that because of the bottle's unique opaque glass, no one can tell what the heck the fill level is nor where drinky level is during its life after opening.  The style is cool -- and I guess it's there to help soothe one's mind about the price tag -- but it's not as useful as plain old cheap glass.  It's a whisky bottle, damn it!

OCTOMORE 5.1 / 5_169

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Brand: Octomore

Ownership: Remy Cointreau

Region: Islay

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Maturation: Bourbon barrels (likely re-fill)

Age: 5 years (bottled 2012)

Alcohol by Volume: 59.5%
PPM: 169
Limited release: 18,000 bottles

The color is the palest of the three.  The oak notes are the mildest as well which makes me think there are more refill casks in this batch than in batch 3.  The nose delivers a much sharper peat than the 3.1. One gets the smoke, the farmy veg, and fresh seaweed versions of peat notes.  A clean beach whiff.  Some fresh apricot and red hots candy.  Very spirity.  After some time opening up, the whisky releases a tiny bit of oak character in mild vanilla and caramel.  The palate starts out hot and needs some air.  It holds the farmy peat, but it's subtler than in the 3.1.  There's a sugary sweetness, that I believe comes from the spirit rather than the oak.  Lots of salty oceanic notes.  But still, most of the peat notes remain mild.  The finish gains a peppery spice.  More the of the salt and ocean.  A little vanilla and burnt wheat bread.  The peat gets mossier.

Where yesterday's 3.1 was loose and soft, likely from some oxidation, today's 5.1 is very tight, likely due to being from the start of the bottle.  I've been finding this top-of-the-bottle tightness from all of the young high strength whiskies I've owned.  I do think think the 3.1's larger oak presence also has a lot to do with its roundness, that's why I keep tying o-a-k in these paragraphs.

Still, the peat will not destroy your palate.  As Jordan mentioned in yesterday's comment section, Bruichladdich's tall stills may be responsible for softening and developing the phenols -- and actually Ralfy has a similar thought in his review of this 5.1, which I just caught this morning..

Like Kilchoman's products, Octomore is a young whisky that tastes and noses very well.  The financial quandary is this, you can buy 5-year-old Kilchoman single cask bottlings ($100, limited to 200-300 bottles each) twice over for the price of the regular 5-year-old Octomores ($200, limited to 18,000 bottltes each), and while a very small business runs Kilchoman, a large international corporation operates Bruichladdich.  Not sure if that influences your choices, but I think about that sort of stuff all the time.

Tomorrow, I'll review the Taste Off's concluding Octomore.  One that is not quite like the others...

Availability - Many specialty US liquor retailers

Pricing - $160-$220

Rating - 86

Single Malt Report: Octomore 3.1 / 3_152

Octomore 3.1 / 3_152.  Its name looks like a eight-limbed military robot prototype.  But it ain't no war machine, it's a peat machine.  Let's break down that name.  Octomore is named after a farm that sits on a hill above Port Charlotte on The Rhinns of Islay (the peninsula on the west coast).  In the early 1800s, a distillery was built on the farm that utilized their own barley for malt whisky.

Today, "Octomore" is being produced at the Bruichladdich distillery by the same folks who make the "Port Charlotte" whiskies.  This particular version of Octomore is the Third Edition, thus the "3".  Many of the editions have sub-editions, usually with different maturation techniques, thus the ".1" designation.  "3_152" says that this third edition has a phenol level of 152 parts per million.

The Octomores are the most heavily peated single malts in the world.  That's been their calling card.  The ppm levels for the six regular editions have ranged from 131 to 169.  Compare that to the standard Lagavulin and Laphroaig levels of 35-40ppm.  Ardbeg's malt has 55ppm and their own peat experiment, Supernova, reached 100ppm.  I've been told the key to Octomore's extra high peat levels is moisture.  Manipulating moisture levels in the peat and barley allows more smoke to be generated and phenols to be absorbed.  (By the way, if anyone knows that I've been given erroneous info on this last part, please let me know.)

To me, the Octomores are a stunt.  They are experiments.  But they are also VERY expensive whiskies, as in $200 for a five year old.  And it's not a single cask whisky.  There are 18,000 bottles released for each expression.  My feelings about the pricing have, in the past, influenced my opinion of the whisky itself.  Also, my previous three Octomore tries have been in circumstances that did not lend themselves to full appreciation of any sort of whisky.

Thanks to two different readers, I was able to look past the pricing issues, sit down with THREE different Octomores side-by-side in my dining room and suss them out.  Daniel, a professional DJ and a well-versed whisky man, brought over two of the Octomores.  Eric S., a very generous anorak from the Lone Star State, sent the third Octomore I brought to the table.

Daniel and I dug into the Octomore three-for-all...

courtesy of Daniel's camera

OCTOMORE 3.1 / 3_152

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Brand: Octomore

Ownership: Remy Cointreau

Region: Islay

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Maturation: Bourbon barrels

Age: 5 years

Alcohol by Volume: 59.0%
PPM: 152
Limited release: 18,000 bottles

The color, a medium gold, is actually the darkest of the three, leading me to consider there's a large factor of first-fill or heavier-charred casks in the mix.  The nose is the most farmy of the three as well.  Quite some manure.  Ocean notes arise, but not of a clean clear ocean, rather something more like Long Beach: the waters of an industrial port.  There's a friendly back-and-forth between sugary lemon rinds and something meaty-savory.  Maybe some roasted nuts in there too.  A veggie peat note pops up at the end, reminiscent of bean sprouts.  Some very palatable peat on the palate, considering its levels.  Vanilla peat perhaps?  A little mild cheese, pleasantly bitter black tea, and a green herbal note as well.  Give it some time for some rich toasted oak and yeasty bread notes to appear.  The finish is mellow, but very long.  There's the vanilla and caramel from the oak, toasted peat from the malting floor, and a bright herbal-ness from the spirit.

Keep in mind, this sampling came from near the bottom of the 3.1's bottle.  It had been decanted into a smaller bottle, but there's a chance a little bit of oxidation was involved which may have made the ABV feel softer.  So that's my disclaimer.  Otherwise, this was darned good.

One thing I've noticed with all the Octomores I've tried is that despite their extreme PPMs, the drinker isn't cloaked in smoke nor blinded by iodine and medicinal sharpness.  You can actually experience more peat aggression in the official Laphroaig CSs or some Port Charlottes or The Corryvreckan.  It's almost as if there's so much peating going on with the Octomores that the drinker goes right through the peat wall and into the other side, finding a controlled, mossy, coastal, toasty Islay malt.  We'll see this happen with the next two Octomores as well...

Availability - Getting tough to find, maybe a dozen retailers around the world

Pricing - $170-$250 (still, unforgivable)

Rating - 88 (after further consideration, I've adjusted the rating from its original four stars)