It's a peat night. As I've said before, my wife's favorite whiskeys are from Islay, where nearly all peaty Scotch originates. I believe her favorites remain the Laphroaig 10 year and the Ardbeg 10 year, both classics. As a result, we always have a few similar bottles open.
A special example is the Octomore 7.1. Bruichladdich distillery, also on Islay, makes Octomore whisky, chemically the most peaty whiskey in the world. How do we know? It's possible to measure the amount absorbed in the malted barley. For comparison, Laphroaig is generally around 40 ppm (parts per million) and Ardbeg 50. These are large numbers and you can tell from smell and taste. Our Octomore sits at 208(!). Each batch is different, but all have considerably more peat than any other whiskey on the market. They're also usually relatively young (5 years) and bottled at a high ABV (59.5%). It's quite a combination.
Bruichladdich has been my favorite distillery since we visited in 2016. Admittedly it was the first distillery we visited in Scotland, but it's still the best. Their staff were friendly, their old machinery and history super interesting and the warehouse tasting incredible, with unreleased whiskies straight from barrels. (Seriously, do the warehouse tasting if you visit.) And I simply love their stuff. They have three lines of whiskies. The unpeated 'Laddie,' the peated 'Port Charlotte,' and the crazily peated and completely unique 'Octomore.' They've always done a huge variety of expressions and line the rafters of their visitor center with them, including some featuring pictures of their employees.
If you're wondering, you pronounce the distillery 'brook-laddy.' Here's Brian Cox to help:
I bought this bottle the day we visited the distillery. It was immediately following the warehouse tasting and perhaps I got overly excited. I've since seen the same bottle back here in the states. Whisky bottles in the UK are always more expensive, and you need to pack them back home, so it's preferable to only buy what you can't find anywhere else. But I don't regret it. I saved it a couple years and opened it following the birth of our son, and have made it last. Like I said, it's a special one.
Not much on the Master of Malt page, so here's The Whisky Exchange.
Let's give it a try.
Smell: Front-loaded strong peat, some sweet (citrus?), hint of alcohol, amazing
Color: Fairly light amber
Taste: Definite peat but different (a fire?), citrus again, something else (vanilla?), rich/chewy
Finish: Only medium burn, strong smoke and a little sweetness lingers, very warming
Oh man, that's something else. It just works so well and there's nothing else like it. The peat packs a wallop but is still completely unlike Laphroaig and Ardbeg and all the others. I think it somehow overwhelms and smoothes out the whisky's youth and high ABV. Then (I swear) you can feel all that peat and smoke exiting your pores the next day. It permeates your body with just one dram, and you should stick to one.
This is another whiskey I'll always want to have on hand, even at $150+ per bottle. Just will need to conserve it. I'd purchase any Octomore edition (except probably the 7.1 again) and will look for an 8 or 9. They're kind of hard to find, even if they don't fly off the shelves.
Cheers!
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