Bruichladdich Distillery Debuts Octomore 12 Series

Bruichladdich Distillery has announced its new Octomore 12 bottlings, marking another chapter in its super peaty Scotch single malt whisky offerings.

The Octomore 12 line up in general is five years old, heavily peated and bottled at cask strength. As with previous editions, the 12.1 acts as the base or control of the experimental range. The 12.2 offers what’s described by the brand as an alternative maturation to its .1 counterpart, this time in a sublimely balanced ex-Sauternes cask profile. Finally, the 12.3 explores Islay grown barley and the terroir of the distiller’s home-grown grain combined with sherry maturation for the first time in history.

Octomore 12.1 (130.8 ppm/59.9% ABV) contains a balance of heavy smoke with fruity and floral distillate. It is matured in ex-American oak casks for five years and is the necessary control for the rest of the series. Mainland grown Scottish barley is distilled in a patient and considered trickle, according to the brand. The stripped back maturation profile allows for cereal-rich, malty notes of this barley-forward single malt, as well as notes of vanilla, citrus and fudge.

Octomore 12.2 (129.7 ppm/57.3% ABV) spent three and a half years in ex-American oak casks, allowing for a fruity and floral spirit, before it is recasked in Sauternes casks for 18 months, allowing for notes of peat smoke, melon, white peach, honeysuckle and coconut, according to official tasting notes.

Octomore 12.3 (118.1 ppm/62.1% ABV) is a terroir-driven spirit in which 75% was filled into ex-American oak casks, while the remaining 25% spent five years maturing in genuine Pedro Ximenez Solera casks from Jerez-based bodega Fernando de Castilla. Raised in Church Field on Octomore Farm by farmer James Brown, this Islay grown barley was trickle distilled through tall narrow necked stills just two miles from where it was grown, noted Bruichladdich.

Aged for five years in total,  what’s said to be its salty citrus marine note is an ode to where the barley was grown and the warehouse’s proximity to the sea, while the Pedro Ximenez casks contribute sweet dried fruit notes which highlight the rich dry peat smoke of Octomore.

The series will be available from the distillery in specialist retail stores starting this month.