In this case it's not the smokiest version of Octomore but it is the latest - the newly released Edition 09.1 διάλογος (or Dialogos when translated from the Greek).
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@Bruichladdich have never been shy when coming forward with their new drams or, like most distilleries, giving us a little story to alongside them, in this case:
Dialogos ( διάλογος ) : a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange.But that it - there's not lines and lines about some made up history to do with the picture on the bottle or chapter and verse about ancient visitors to Islay - just two simple sentences.
Then much more importantly they tell us a little about the whisky itself, unlike a lot of other distilleries....
Ok we could probably have done without the last one, 42,000 is a huge number and I'm sure anyone who wants to will be able to try this whisky, it's not one for sitting on shelves or as I often say "It's not whisky until you drink it!"
- Malted to 156PPM
- Distilled from 100% Scottish grown Concerto barley, harvested in 2011 and distilled in 2012
- Matured entirely on Islay for five years in ex-American whiskey casks (5yrs), full term in Jim Beam (51%), Jack Daniels (26%), Clermont (15%), Old Grand-Dad (8%)
- Bottled unchill-filtered and colouring free at Bruichladdich Distillery, 59.1% alc. / vol.
- Unchillfiltered
- Non-coloured
- Limited to 42,000 bottles
So let's get on to the dram itself....
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| Sorry Bruichladdich I've not managed to visit your distillery yet, so haven't bought a branded glass! |
Appearance: Very pale gold, syrupy looking, swirls leave a line on the glass that slowly turns to droplets, no legs to speak of.
Nose: Huge maritime peat smoke, you're sitting on a beach in front of a bonfire. Get past that and there's hints of vanilla and fruit - but only tiny hints - smoke prevails. With a little water the smoke fades a little and the vanilla becomes more apparent.
Palate: Thick syrupy liquid smoke rolls over the tongue, some salted caramel and coconut hints hiding in there somewhere and an oak spice at the end. Yummy! With water the a lovely sweetness comes out toffee or butterscotch?
Finish: Long, smokey warmth with a gentle cinnamon spice which just goes on forever.
Overall: Another fantastic Octomore - hits you straight between the eyes with the peat smoke, not as hard as the 309ppm 08.3 from last year but at 156ppm enough to tell you it's there. So as Bruichladdich suggest - lets have a conversation, every palate is different and every opinion has value. Let me know what do you think of 09.1
Many thanks to @MaltmanMike for the sample! You can listen to his thoughts here! Or read @GentlemanGrimm's thoughts here