The Octave Project

I've tried a few Octave releases before but this is the first time I've tried them as an experiment. 

This A.D. Rattray set of 5 x 30ml bottles of 2007 Pulteney whisky, has been sitting on my shelf for a few years now so I decided to open it and try them.

This is the third of their #TheOctaveProject releases, a 6yo Arran from a 2011 Bourbon Barrel, Bunnahabhain 2002 Bourbon Hogshead and these 9yo Pulteney from a 2007 Bourbon Hogshead.

A.D. Rattray said:

"The spirit was originally matured in a Bourbon Hogshead before being divided between four different Octave casks. Specially commissioned from the coopers for our Project, each Octave used oak staves taken from a larger cask that had previously contained PX Sherry, Oloroso Sherry, Rioja or Rum. One portion of whisky from the original cask was retained to enable a point of comparison."

So what has happened is that the liquid from the bourbon barrel was divided into five equal parts. The first part was bottled as a 9.5yo at cask strength, the other four parts were further matured in four separate octaves (small 50 litre casks) for five months before being bottled as 10yo.




Each of the four octaves had been made from casks which had previous held something different; PX sherry, Oloroso sherry, Rioja wine and Rum.

The Octave Project allowed me to experience the impact of finishing the liquid in various cask types, all the while being able to compare it to the original whisky. As an Octave holds only 50 litres of whisky, it amplifies wood-to-spirit interaction in a short burst of second wood maturation. 

Let's see how their whiskies taste:

Dram	Old Pulteney 2007 Bourbon Hogshead
	Bourbon	PX	Oloroso	Rioja	Rum
Characteristics	9yo 58.9% ABV	10yo 57.5% ABV	10yo 56% ABV	10yo 57.1% ABV	10yo 55.8% ABV
Bottler notes	9.5 years ex-bourbon hogshead	Extra 5mth PX Sherry Octave finish	Extra 5mth Oloroso Sherry Octave finish	Extra 5mth Rioja Red Wine Octave finish	Extra 5mth Rum Octave finish
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, slowly bead up and fall as slow thick legs	Dark orangey gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up, and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark orangey gold in the glass, swirls cling as a  thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thick legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a  thin line, slowly bead up and fall as slow thick legs	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a  thin line, slowly bead up and fall as slow thick legs
Nose	Musty dunnage warehouse, vanilla, maritime breeze, malt and green banana.	Musty dunnage funk - sherry soaked dried fruit with dates, figs, prunes and black cherries. No sign of the sea salt or bananas.	More of a sweet musty note, not quite dunnage. A little rubbery - damp welly note. The salt, malt and green banana are still here.	Similar to the bourbon - musty, vanilla, salt and green banana but there's also some dry oak, Ryvita and berry hints.	Dunnage funk has gone replaced by sweet pineapple, sea salt and green banana.
Palate	Thick syrupy arrival, mouthcoating, ginger spice, cereal, tropical fruit notes: pineapple, mango; a little bite of salty citrus as the liquid disappears.	Thick syrupy arrival, mouthcoating, gentle peppery spice, honey, barley sugars and nutty toffee. Very drying. The dried fruit from the nose are here. There's a little sea salt as the liquid disappears but the rest of the distillery character has gone.	Thick sweet arrival, strawberry jam, tangy orange marmalade and dried fruit. A quick sip on the bourbon, then back to the Oloroso and the red fruit jumps out. Very dry in the mouth, a little sea salt. There's very little spice here.	Thick syrupy arrival, mouthcoating, instantly drying. A big bite of peppery spice. A little oak suggesting dunnage warehouse. A few more sips and there's hints of red berries.	Thick syrupy arrival, brown sugar and honey, icing sugar dried pineapple. A little musty old bookshop. Salt and citrus still here as the liquid disappears.
Finish	Lingering tropical fruit and a bite of ginger spice.	Lingering sweet honey and peppery spice.	Short, dry, red fruit.	Short, spicy, very dry.	Short drying honey sweetness and
Overall	After each dram I went back to the bourbon for a little sip, the context changed everything, the vanilla came to the fore - as the finishes added different notes the vanilla note in the bourbon kept increasing - getting to almost single grain levels. The PX wiped out most of the distillery character, the Oloroso and Rioja added berry fruit notes, the Rum even more sweetness. What was interesting was that the 'plain' ex-bourbon got better as I went back to it after each of the other drams. I think the Rioja cask has had the least influence on the whisky, much more of the distillery character, especially the sea salt comes through. It's the hint of berries and dryness which tells you it's been finished. The Rum cask added a whole new level of sweetness and some additional tropical fruit, the salt was still there and the nose was similar but you'd be hard pushed to get Old Pulteney trying it blind. The Oloroso cask has taken over the spirit, the distillery character is all but gone... but it's still a lovely dram! Similarly the PX cask has totally taken over the spirit, there's nothing that would suggest Old Pulteney here but again it's a very nice dram. I finished back on the 'plain' ex-bourbon, and to be honest it was probably the best of the 5 after trying all the rest - huge single grain style vanilla custard notes, a little tropical fruit and a load of sea salt - completely different from when I tried it first in the line-up. As a wise man once told me 'Context is everything'! The Octaves, being very small, have had a big impact on the whisky. The two sherry casks especially have maybe been finished for too long, the distillery character has gone. For an independent bottler that isn't a problem but Old Pulteney would probably never do this.. A great experiment to try and hopefully A.D. Rattray will release another box!