Bruichladdich Reveals Next Generation Of Its Octomore Heavily Peated Whisky

In the stable of whiskies which make up the portfolio of Scotland’s Bruichladdich distillery a special place exists for fans of heavily peated Scotch. The Octomore line, as we’ve seen in the past, typically has high-phenol parts per million (ppm) counts, which is the measurement of how peaty a bottling can be. It is now bringing to market the next wave in this line, consisting of four bottlings which, while united by that heavy peaty theme, each have their own unique features.

The new releases are Octomore 08.1, 08.2, 08.3 and 08.4. Here’s what to know on each from Bruichladdich:

• 08.1: 8-years-old (distilled 2008); 167 ppm; 100% matured in first fill American oak casks, including Buffalo Trace, Clermont Springs, Four Roses, Heaven Hill & Jack Daniels; 59.3% ABV; 100% Scottish barley
• 08.2: 8-years-old (distilled 2008); 167 ppm; matured first six years in one of three different types of ex-wine casks – French Mourvedre, Austrian sweet wines, French Sauternes – and finished for two years in fresh Amarone casks; 58.4% ABV; 100% Scottish barley
• 08.3: 5-years-old (distilled 2011); 309 ppm (most heavily peated Octomore to date!!); matured in 56% first fill bourbon casks, the remaining in ex-Paulliac, Ventoux, Rhone and Burgundy casks; 61.2% ABV; 100% Islay barley (one farm, one field, one vintage)
• 08.4: 8-years-old (distilled 2009); 170 ppm; matured 20% full term in virgin oak and 80% originally introduced to American oak, first-fill ex-bourbon casks, before being transferred into European virgin oak that had previously held Octomore 07.4; 58.7% ABV: 100% Scottish barley

As you can see from the above list, this is quite a diverse crowd of Octomores for the .08_ line. Particularly standing out for the ppm count is the 08.3 – at 309 ppm it will quite simply be a super smoky monster on the palate for most who try it.

“The spirit of Octomore has been defying logic for over fifteen years,” said Bruichladdich officials on the distillery’s blog. “The ‘what if’ moment that once seemed almost absurd has progressively morphed into something endlessly alluring. It begat liquid like no other, an elusive collection, the stuff of legend.”