Bruichladdich - Octomore 02.2 - Orpheus - 2004 5 year old Whisky

Featured in the 1001 whiskies you must try before you die book

A Chateaux Petrus red wine (very expensive wine from the Pomerol region of Bordeaux/France) cask finished Octomore.

"On the nose, peat and honey glazed ham, then fruit appears from behind the smoke curtain:red berries, citrus, grape. On the palate it is sweet, peaty and hot with turkish delight, barley sugar, honey and lots of jammy cranberry, cherry, pomegranate and kumquat."

For some reason this is one of the hardest to find of the Octomore range (140ppm) even though there were 15,000 bottles, we just don't come across it and in fact this is the first bottle we have had for over a year now.

Our Tasting Notes:

Nose: Big black grape and red berries with smoked paprika and cured ham or spicy chorizo. Very earthy peat smoke with ripe cherries and some leathery notes along with a sweet hickory smoke meaty bbq.

Palate: A bold delivery as you might expect at this strength with spicy red berries and hot pepper sauce and firm red wine oak tannins. Black grape and treacle baked ham studded with clove, blood orange, smoked paprika.Add a drop of water and another layer emerges from the smoke..new leather, pomegranate, rose turkish delight and crunchy-aromatic peat.

Finish: The big grip of red wine tannins linger with a tarry black grape, earthy red berry, fruity liquorice and treacle baked ham..oh and the smoke is like a bonfire of old Bordeaux wine wood casks being used to bbq spicy meat.

A very distinctive red wine cask influence to this ever so intriguing Octomore, the sort of experiment that only Bruichladdich could pull off with such aplomb. A drop of water really changes and tames this heavily peated beast.