Review #77 - Bruichladdich Octomore 12.2
Sauternes Cask Mini-Series: Part 3 of 3
Finishing up this Sauternes mini-series, we're back to Scotch, and this time it's heavily peated: Octomore 12.2, a 2021 release from the Bruichladdich distillery on Islay. An annual release, the Octomore series generally follows a specific numbering convention: this is the 12th year of release, and being a '.2' bottle, this would generally be the same spirit as the '.1' bottling, but have some wine cask maturation as opposed to just ex-bourbon maturation.
That's the case here - this year, instead of a sherry cask, this Octomore received the Sauternes treatment after some initial maturation in ex-bourbon barrels. The Concerto barley used was from the Scottish mainland, and was peated to a level of 129.7 ppm. How will the sweeter flavors of the wine cask interact with those heavy smoky flavors, especially at a cask strength of 57.3% ABV? Let's find out.
Bruichladdich Octomore 12.2
Scotland/Islay - Single Malt
Price Paid: USD 230 (2021)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 295 (2023)
Age Statement: 5 Years
Strength: 57.3% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-bourbon and sauternes casks
Details: Concerto barley from the Scottish mainland, peated to 129.7ppm
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 15 months; bottles at 100%, 90%, 80%, and 60% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Let's set the scene: you're next to an old stone hearth, with a fire burning both wood and peat inside. You've prepared quite the feast - you smell rich barbecue, like dry rub meats, musty sausage, and sauce. That will go nicely on your charcuterie board, where you have some hard cheeses already waiting (love that lactic Bruichladdich note). You smell the white wine you'll be drinking, along with some old, musty sherry; there are other fruity aspects, too, like crisp lemon, charred orange and orange cream, even some blackberries to balance the savory elements. That fire isn't roaring quite yet - it's a medium smoke so far, ashy and with a hint of the cigars you've smoked. To season the barbecue, you have some salt and bits of brown sugar; the final smells are some mild spirit sharpness, mixed with a whiff of perfume.
Palate: Well, that fire is roaring now. A blast of peat smoke with some medicinal and briny flavors, acrid wood smoke too - the oak is generally dry, adding notes of peppercorns, maple, and some dry vanilla, which turns more creamy later. No charcuterie can be complete without some jams for spreading - you have stone fruit and orange jams, and they're aided by a bit of dark fruit. Time for the main course: sweet barbecued ribs, oh so savory and a little bit salty. They're hot and oily and almost buttery. Taking in the scene, you can almost taste the damp hay you're sitting on next to the hearth. [The mouthfeel is thick.]
Finish: The flavors of your feast last quite a long time, it will take a while to finish all of this. The savory and saucy notes of your oily main course linger, along with some white peppery spices you cooked with. The smokiness from the peat fire lingers and tickles as it coats your throat; when that smoke begins to blow away, the heat of the fire itself is still growing. A gust of wind tosses up notes of ash and charred wood. To cap your feast, you have a fruity, creamy dessert: notes of blood orange and charred fruit rind, along with lemon candies and butterscotch can all be enjoyed.
Final Note: Lovely stuff, it's amazing that Bruichladdich is able to get this much complexity from whisky that's only five years old. Lots of different flavors to dissect - we really had to work to condense the notes we found over the course of our four tastings of this whisky into manageable paragraphs (they weren't really that manageable in the end, were they?). It seemed to change a bit each time we tasted it, and that always kept things interesting. As always, though, the trick with Octomore is the price - can 5 year old whisky ever really be worth $200+ or even more? It's hard to say yes, but if you have the funds to spare, these bottles offer a flavor hook that few others can match.
Our Average Rating: 8.3 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 4.97
