Tom’s “Officially Unofficial” Bruichladdich Blog
A Whisky2.0© BlogArchive for Octomore
A Wonderful Tribute
Peat is all the rage these days in Scotch whisky. It seems that whisky lovers can’t get enough of it. Bruichladdich has produced Octomore, first made from malt peated at 80.5 ppm phenol, now made from malt peated at 131 ppm. Ardbeg just released their Supernova, peated at about 100 ppm. Both of these are significantly higher than Port Charlotte, peated at about 40 ppm. Peat is also prominent in the Bruichladdich 3D, 3rd Edition (3D3 for short), which first shipped in 2006. It was produced in tribute to Norrie Cambell, the last traditional peat cutter on Islay. Bruichladdich has this to say about 3D3:
Bruichladdich 3D3
3D3 is the third version of 3D – the peated Multi-Vintage Bruichladdich. This single malt selected from several vintages is even more peaty than the previous two releases due to the debut of the mighty Octomore – the heaviest peated whisky in the world at a whopping 80.5 ppm. Combined with other versions of the Bruichladdich it makes for an awesomely complex and layered version of Bruichladdich: peat without the medicine. Listen to Jim McEwan’s Podcast here. For more information click here. For a tasting note please click here.
I got this bottle today as an early Valentine’s Day present. I’m a very lucky man! This is one smooth malt. The peat is very well balanced and the fruit is not overshadowed. Yes, it’s complex, but not shockingly so. There isn’t overwhelming sweetness (the color might make you assume there would be a lot of sherry sweetness, but there is nothing approaching treacle), and the mouth feel is slightly oily, which I suppose is what helps leave such a nice finish.
I paid just over $60, and I think that’s a good price for such a well-executed product. Yes, there are peatier whiskies on the market, but speaking for myself, I don’t buy exclusively based on phenol ppm. When I am in the mood for whisky, peat is not the only thing that determines which I will select. The 3D3 is a good example of a whisky that uses peat as an ingredient to complement the rest of the product, not to dominate it. (Now, I’m not saying that Octomore or Ardbeg’s Supernova are just peat with no other flavor. In fact, I’ve heard that they aren’t as peaty as the numbers make it sound. I would like to be able to sample them and I’ll see what I think at that point.)
The 3D3 is peaty, but it’s a gentle peatiness compared to, for example the Port Charlotte PC5, which is quite a stormy beast! Despite the fact that they both rate around 40 ppm phenols (the 3D3 was a combination of several different malts, vatted together so the ppm value is approximate), there is a vast difference in flavor. The more different whiskies I try, the more I realize that they can’t be reduced to numbers. There are bad whiskies, to be sure, but I luckily haven’t purchased any to date. Among those that I own, or have tasted, there are so many nuances that I can’t imagine how hard it is for professionals to rank them. For me, I can just say that this is an interesting Bruichladdich because it’s a blend of old and new, and the peat aspect is very well executed, to my non-professional palate.
To Norrie, I say: Slainte!
Port Charlotte News
PC7 has been bottled! I’m counting down to its arrival in my corner of California at Beltramo’s. BTW, the name of this expression is “sin an doigh Ileach“ which is Gaelic for: ‘it’s the Islay way.’ Sales of PC7 will probably be boosted by the fact that PC6 just won two awards in Jim Murray’s 2009 Whisky Bible. Presumably, PC6 sales will also be boosted by the awards. 
In other Bruichladdich news, Octomore and X4 are available if you act soon.
Octomore and PC7: Unity
The Whisky Exchange’s blog has an article on Bruichladdich’s latest releases: Octomore (in a new bottle shape!) and Port Charlotte PC7 (named: Unity; NOTE: I found out the week before Thanksgiving that the name is not going to be Unity). I don’t have much to add to the descriptions that they posted, except to note that the bottle design for the Octomore is really striking. The contents, at 131 ppm phenol, deserve an impressive bottle!
I am going to try to order Octomore, but I have doubts as to whether I can get it in California. If I can, I have doubts as to whether I can handle that much peat. WOW!
Writer’s Block
My mother always used to tell me that if you can’t say something nice about someone then don’t say anything. What I have is the opposite problem. Bruichladdich has been winning awards for its products, and those were initially based on careful blending of the malts that had been aging since the prior mothballing of the distillery. The initial products from the new make spirit have also been doing well, in terms of public enthusiasm and the awards that Bruichladdich has won within the whisky industry.
The public enthusiasm has been stoked by the limited nature of the expressions produced by Bruichladdich as well as some truly unusual expressions like for instance the quadruple-distilled X4 and the new Port Charlotte series. The enthusiasm peaked when the distillery announced that it was selling futures in the expression they named Octomore, after the eponymous farm near the distillery. The futures sold out, and the waiting began.
Last week Bruichladdich announced on their blog that the Octomore futures owners would be receiving either notifications about, or their actual bottles, in the near future. I found the announcement confusing since it sounded like the futures owners would be getting a product that was different than what will become commercially available in the near future as well. I’ll quote:
Octomore: the release notification for the futures bottling of Octomore will be going out to Futures owners later this week. The distillery bottling, assembled from multiple casks with various attributes that together, as one would expect/hope, bring an extra complexity to the bottling – will follow probably next month. Be prepared for a surprise.
What I can’t parse is whether the “futures bottling” and the “distillery bottling” are one and the same or not. The second sentence makes it sound like they are different — otherwise why make a comparison? Extra complexity compared to what? I suppose this only makes sense if they are referring to the same bottling in both sentences. Also, why mention “next month” and “a surprise”? Unless all the futures owners had already visited the distillery and tasted the product, it’s hard to know why they’d be surprised, unless it will be even peatier than expected.
As we recall, the Octomore is just over 80 ppm phenol, and should appeal to the “peat freaks” (not a disparaging term, I assure you) among us. The Octomore II (I’m not sure if futures in this expression have been sold yet…) clocks in at over 160 ppm phenol. When I hear numbers like that, I ponder: What would the phenol content be for tea made from powdered peat? I have to think that Octomore is higher. 
As people start receiving their Octomore, I expect them to be posting on the Whisky Magazine forums, where I have been hanging out lately. I’ll report back here when I hear more.
Sorting Bruichladdich expressions
I have been spending a lot of time reading about the expressions that are no longer available, and trying to compare them in my mind to the ones I have tasted, or that I own. I can see the range splitting into “legacy” Bruichladdich (i.e., stuff they are bottling that pre-dated the current owners) and “future” Bruichladdich.
The neat thing about whisky in my mind is that it cultivates patience. All of the activity that starts in the malting floor and distillery and ends on the bottling line involves mostly a lot of waiting. Sometimes whisky moves to a different type of barrel for aging in a different environment, but it mostly just sits in a warehouse until it’s ready.
Bruichladdich has earned a reputation for light, floral whiskies that (to my mind) are great all-purpose whiskies. They are not “typical” Islay’s by any stretch of the imagination.
For the “legacy” range, I can sort them into the “tame” and “feisty” categories. This is a high-level sort. I think that numerically, most are in the former sub-category. Reviewers give these pretty decent marks, ranging to excellent marks. I personally don’t put much stock in reviewers: I think that you are the ultimate reviewer. If you like something, then it’s good. What you need to know at that point is whether another product is similar. A friend in Chicago just bought the 3D3 and it’s in the latter (i.e., highly reviewed). I can’t wait to hear what he thinks of it. Tomorrow, I’ll type in all the names of the expressions I know and categorize them this far. Further categorization may emerge.
The “future” Bruichladdich’s are things like the Port Charlotte brand, the Octomore brand, and the extremely potent quadruple-distilled “X4 – PERILOUS WHISKY.” You know, it’s clear that these guys are having a hell of a lot of fun! I am sure that these aren’t the only types of new make spirit being produced. I imagine that there will be some future Bruichladdich expressions that are reflective of the floral styles that have been produced to date. But the ones I listed just above are clearly on the more unique end of the scale. Octomore (then Octomore II) gives a new meaning to “peaty,” and Port Charlotte is no slouch in this department. Definitely feisty!
Given the evident innovative spirit (pun intended) on display to date, I imagine that future Bruichladdich expressions will defy concise classification. However, as they say, there’s no expectation that anyone except a collector would try to acquire them all. As the “legacy” Bruichladdich is being used up, there will be ample supply of “future” Bruichladdich ready for bottling. I can’t wait! If I had to hazard a guess, I’d imagine that some truly special casks will be left to age until the angels have taken all they can stand. Lucky bastards! Rather than speculate on what might happen in the future, I’ll focus on what’s available now, and on what’s coming soon.
Bruichladdich — Expression Mania
This distillery is nothing if not innovative. As a resident of Silicon Valley, I recognize the spirit of innovation and the result in this case is a company that refuses to be categorized by geography. What they are striving for is excellence in many different styles of whisky. I think I want to break this down by peating level, starting from the top:
- Octomore
- Port Charlotte
- Bruichladdich
Octomore has been distilled to at least 80 ppm phenols. That’s very peaty…but according to folks who would know (I haven’t had the pleasure yet) the peat isn’t so overwhelming that you can’t taste the rest of the flavor components. Port Charlotte is 40 ppm and is, for my money, a great balance.
The final category is the primary distillate produced, and is minimally peated at 3-5 ppm phenols. The last post was about wood, and Bruichladdich spirit marries nicely in bourbon casks. The others are aged in a mix of bourbon and sherry. I haven’t heard of any usage of port or other types of casks. I reserve the right to be wrong — feel free to comment and correct me!
The thing that makes Bruichladdich unique is that they are the only all-Islay whisky. It’s Islay from farm to bottle. And their independent mindedness has produced a wider variety of expressions that one would have expected from any distillery, much less one on Islay. In the next post, I’ll try to drill down another level and explore the simplest (so far) category above: Octomore. I already wrote about Port Charlotte, but I will go into more detail before exploring the broadest category, Bruichladdich.
