Review by: ZoidbergOnTheRocks
Finishing up with the Octo-madness, here are the last three I currently have. Somewhat of a mixed group of expressions here which ought to be fun. I’ll pour a little bit of the previously reviewed 7.3, 9.3, and 11.3 and the 2.1, 6.1, 11.1 as necessary to get a feel for where these fit in.
Tasted on 11/28/2020, neat in a Glencarin to start, then with a bit of water.
Octomore 10 Year Second Edition
This is the second release of their 10 year old expression from 2016 at 167 PPM. Fresh bourbon and Grenache Blanc casks. All Scottish barley and matured on Islay. This is from a sample.
Distillery: Bruichladdich
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 57.3%, cask strength
Age: 10 years old. Bottled in 2016.
Cask type: 1st Fill Bourbon, Grenache Blanc Casks
Natural color. Non-chill-filtered. One of 18,000 bottles.
Nose: rich peat smoke, seaweed, sea spray, warm sand, lemon, iodine, vanilla, apple, oak, ginger, allspice, grapefruit. With water: seems to have dampened down the smoke and brought some of the spice more forward. When all the glasses are empty this has the weakest presence.
Taste: spicy w/ ginger and pepper, peat, smoke, oak, sweet lemon, grapefruit, seawater, medium mouthfeel, spice builds, toffee. With water: sweeter, otherwise very similar.
Finish: mild rich peat smoke, lemon, seawater, oak, mild spice, a bit medicinal, long on the spice, smoke, and sea water. With water: again, the smoke is more subtle and woody now, a bit sweeter, grapefruit, hrm… finish got shorter.
This is no big smokey Octomore; it’s all a bit subtle. Bright citrus fruits, excellent maritime notes, a little bit medicinal throughout, and rather spicy on the palate and in the finish. Not the best swimmer out there, with a little water seeming to take some of the smoke away and knocking the finish down noticeably. Still, quite good overall.
Final Score: 87.
Edition OBA Concept, undisclosed PPM. Bottled in 2017, this was a pretty limited run of just 3,000 bottles, and small ones at that: 50cl. This is from a sample.
Distillery: Bruichladdich
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 59.7%, cask strength
Age: NAS. Bottled on 05/26/2017.
Cask type: vatting of 10 casks
Natural color. Non-chill-filtered. One of 3,000 bottles.
Nose: big on dark fruit, currants, raisins, dried cherries, subtle rich peat smoke, coal, sea spray, mineral, hemp rope, slightly medicinal, a touch of citrus, leather. With water: more fruit, peat seems richer, more smoke, more maritime and medicinal, sweeter.
Taste: dark fruits, dry, mild smoke and peat, mild spice, medium-thick mouthfeel, mineral, sweet, prunes, fruitcake spices. With water: a bit more maritime, otherwise similar.
Finish: smoke comes through, earthy peat, tons of sweet dark fruits, still dry, more spice w/ ginger and pepper, salt, seaweed, very long on smoke, salt, dark fruits, and spice. With water: similar.
Big notes of dark fruits and sweetness before the smoke on this one for sure. The smoke is in there, especially on the palate and in the finish, but overall it takes a back seat to the fruit. A touch of water makes the nose bigger, brings out more smoke, and also some more maritime and medicinal notes here and there. Better balance w/ water for sure. Decent complexity, though going back to it quite some time later it’s still pretty much the same.
Overall this has some notes that typically make me very happy: dark fruits & smoke, rich earthy peat. I’d have liked to see it better balanced, with the medicinal and maritime notes coming through more. Still, this is excellent, and the best of the three for sure.
Final Score: 92.
Edition 10.4, just 3 years old, and only 88 PPM. Scotish barley, it’s their youngest Octomore released so far. Casks are “high toast French virgin oak casks” matured on Islay. Hmm… was this a good idea? Sounds like a bit of a rush job to me, as in “we’d better get this stuff out of these shitty casks ASAP.” Let’s see.
Distillery: Bruichladdich
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Islay
ABV: 63.5%, cask strength
Age: 3 years old. Distilled in 2016. Bottled on 07/18/2019.
Cask type: Heavily Toasted French Limousin Virgin Oak
Natural color. Non-chill-filtered. One of 12,000 bottles.
Nose: lemon, lime, malt, vanilla, lots of big oak, light wood smoke, peat, very hot, fresh black pepper, ginger, chilli pepper, straw, cereal, malt. With water: still a bit hot, more of that wood smoke, more malt.
Taste: warm spice, malty, some smoke, oak, very dry, pepper, hot, medium-thin mouthfeel. With water: a little more peat, slightly less hot.
Finish: smoke, peat, oak, lots of pepper, vanilla, lemon, malt, tannic, somewhat bitter, dry, medium-long on spice, oak, with a bit of smoke. With water: smoke pops more, still very dry, oaky, still slightly bitter, more pepper and chili heat.
Yo dawg, I heard you like oak so I got you some oak for your oak. This is a big, oaky, spicy, cirtusy dram. Lots of smoke throughout as you’d imagine, but everything is dominated by the spice and oak. Very poorly balanced. I’m surprised this is Octomore; it’s pretty different than the others I’ve had. Surprisingly hot neat, and water does improve it but it’s still surprisingly hot even after a good splash of water. Thinnest mouthfeel of the three for sure.
Overall, this is a reasonable dram, but it’s not what I expect from Octomore.
My wife on this one: “There’s a weird, unnatural note to this. Kinda like packing peanuts.” (She gets all of the drams in my reviews blind, though in this case I told her to taste this one last.)
Final Score: 82.
Comparison
Order: OBA > 10 2nd > 10.4
Total Octo Order: 7.3 > 9.3 > 6.1 > OBA > 11.3 > 11.1 > 10 2nd > 2.1 > 10.4
Forming the total order on this was hard. I had to pour a lot of Octomore. It was worth it.
The OBA is excellent, and I really dig the dark fruity notes mixed with the smoke and spice. It was an easy call for this, though, vs. the 9.3.
The 10 2nd is pretty good, but I’ll be honest: I expected it to be better, and to be ranked differently. Disappointing with water, which seemed to really thin it out and knock down a lot of the notes. Shame. Still, even though it’s a “shame” in this lineup, you have to take the entire line up into account and realize this is still a great Scotch.
The 10.4 is, um, odd. Surprisingly spicy, even after water, and easily my least favorite Ocotomore. Tons of oak and spice, very hot even with water, and just wildly out of balance. If you dig on oaky, spicy drams then you may love this. Me, I’ll go with any of the others.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 
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