Octomore 10 Year, Third Edition
Whisky: Octomore 10 Year, Third Edition
Country/Region: Scotland/Islay
ABV: 56.8%
Cask: Oak
Age:10 Years (Distilled 2008, Bottled 2018)
Nose: Sweet grill smoke, fruit, and dark shoyu. Chocolate and berries tossed on the ground, covered in kerosene, and set alight. A pungent, yet sweet, smoke with an underlying peat reek carried notes of tar sands and berry-flavored popsicles. Maritime and salty at turns with smoked tropical fruit puddings, pipe tobacco, and vanilla.
Palate: Full-bodied with a robust and slightly acrid profile of berries, beaches, and chimney smoke. Contrasting flavors battled across the palate— sweet candied and chocolate-covered blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries pitted against velvety chimney smoke, bacon, and tar. Hints of vinyl records with salty-mineral laden water. Water quenched the battle and brought more structure to the dram as berries arrived first, followed by chimneys smoke and notions of dried leaves and an autumnal atmosphere.
Finish: Lingering sweet chimney smoke and mesquite wood.
Score: 7
Mental Image: Cold Autumn Evenings and Shoreline Strolls
Notes: Dripping with pleasant nostalgia for long-lost autumn evenings, this dram hit a sweet spot among treasured memories. I do not live in a part of the world with stereotypical autumn— no crisp cool air, vibrant color shifts in foliage, or chimney smoke. Yet, I grew up where autumn signaled a remarkable change in scenery as trees quickly moved from green to yellow-red, to brown, and finally bare branches. Along the way, the quality of the air changed from the sweet florals of summer to the savory dry vegetation and smoke of autumn.
I love a dram that takes you places, and this Octomore certainly did. The aroma was rich and occasionally quite pungent, with burning wood and tobacco generally laying beneath top notes of sweet fruits and chocolate. The palate was much the same, though the flavors appeared locked in combat until a few drops of water separated them. While I enjoyed the richness at cask strength, I thought with water the flavor profile became more coherent and structured.
Overall, a lovely Octomore. Proof that, despite my belief that the spirit is best enjoyed at half this age, even after a decade of maturation, it can still be quite good. The wife enjoyed the nose but thought the palate was a bit flat beyond chocolate and bacon. While I disagreed the first time we tried the dram, on subsequent tastings, I occasionally found the flavors less crisp on the initial sips and longer to develop on the back end.
Image Credit: Abbey Whisky
