Octomore 2008 Cask Sample

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Score:  88/100

Here’s one just for fun.  Not bottled…not available…not really meaningful to many others.  However, this is my vanity project and I simply want to do it, so…

Twice now in the autumn month of September I’ve sipped Octomore from the cask in the warehouses of Bruichladdich.  The first time it was a clean, fiery and pristine dram.  Not to mention being an absolute thrill, as a fan of Octomore, to be able to taste straight from the cask.

The second was like a coal-burning train careening wildly down my throat, throwing off black billows of smoke and hellfire.

Yep.  In other words…both glorious.

This latter dram is the one I’m writing about now.  I believe this was an over-charred hoggy, but as to what may or may not have been inside the cask before its innards were lambasted by the might of Octomore…who knows?  What I can tell you is that this is a nearly unparalleled whisky.  I can’t think of anything even remotely similar.

Many thanks to Allan Logan at Bruichladdich for the opportunity to taste this (and many other casks), as well as his generosity in providing a healthy sample to bring home and write-up in relative peace.  Cheers, Allan.  Here’s to ya!

Nose:  Peat gets almost buried with other such broad stroke scents.  Char and campfire.  Borderline absurd notes of burnt rubber.  And normal rubber, for that matter.  Bitter dark chocolate (think high 90s, in terms of cacao content).  Caramel and burning grain.  Dark European breads and caramelized brown sugar.  Vinegar.  Farmy notes (like cowshit).

Palate:  Again…burnt rubber.  Someone said like ‘biting a pine tree’.  Personally I think it’s more like licking a bicycle tire.  Smoke.  Grilled lemon.

This one needs to open for a loooooooong, looooooooooooooooooooong time.

I will have to follow up the folk at Bruichladdich to see what happens to this cask.  (Pictured above).

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt