Over the years, there have been a handful of reviews that inspired someone to let me know they thought I did not get a whisky— some critical essence had eluded me. A few of those have been a bit unfair I felt; scoring a whisky a 7 or 8 when someone thought it should be a 9 or 10 hardly seems ground to ban me from ever reviewing the distillery again (I certainly have not stopped reviewing Ledaig or Laphroaig). In this instance though, they may have a point— Octomore and I seem to speak a different language.  Anyway, here we have another cask from Jim McEwan’s personal collection, bottled by the Cask Whisperer.

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Whisky: Octomore 8 Year (2011), The Cask Whisperer

Country/Region: Scotland/Islay

ABV: 59.9%

Cask: Bourbon Barrel

Age: 8 Years (Distilled 2011, Bottled 2020)

Notes: Phenolic and sinus-clearing: smelling salts, tar, turpentine, and burning sage wafted out of an early modern triage tent— cheers to good old Ambroise Paré. More pleasant sounding cocoa powder and chicken mole sat just behind with a touch of charred meat and more burning grass. Brown sugar and toffee blondie bars lingered when sweet caramelized sugars and malty pastries finally came together. Medium-bodied and oily, the flavor profile was acrid and medicinal as burning herbs, tar, and spent cannon shot lingered on the palate. Charred citrus and burning grass tickled the senses with a touch of maritime salt and charcoal, muscle rubs and menthol appeared with time. Sightly burnt caramel and molasses cookies gradually arrived with some spirited pepper.  The finish was medium length with burnt caramel and medicinal herbs.

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Score: 5 (75)

Mental Image: Pastry Class at Siege

Conclusion: My notes on this whisky are not all that different from those found on whiskybase— a few of the terms are slightly different, but it is not hard to see that we are hitting on similar flavor elements. However, the scores are radically different, even accounting for differences in point scale. I was far cooler on this malt. Overall, a feisty affair— big, punchy classic Octomore. One for the Octomore faithful, but I found it overly simply and a touch too acrid.