Octomore

Octomore is made at the Bruichladdich distillery on the shores of Loch Indaal on Islay. It takes its name from Octomore farm above the village of Port Charlotte, where a small distillery once worked in the 19th century. The first Octomore was released in 2008, and it has been bottled every year since.

What sets Octomore apart is the peat. The barley is malted to phenol levels far above most Islay whiskies, often well over 100 parts per million and in some editions above 300. Despite this, the spirit comes off Bruichladdich's tall stills fairly clean and fruity, so the smoke usually sits alongside sweetness, cereal and sea air rather than drowning them.

Releases follow a numbering system. The first number is the edition (for example 11 or 14), and the decimal tells you the style: .1 is usually Scottish barley in American oak, .2 brings in wine or other cask influence, .3 uses barley grown on Islay, and .4 is matured in virgin oak. Our catalogue includes many of these, such as Octomore 12.3 Islay Barley, 11.1 Dialogos, 04.2 Comus and 08.4 Virgin Oak. Most are young, around five years old, and bottled at high strength.

Alongside the annual editions there are occasional older or special bottlings, such as the 10 Year Old editions, The Impossible Equation and Fèis Ìle festival releases like Event Horizon. Octomore is bottled by Bruichladdich on Islay, without chill filtration or added colouring, and the distillery is owned by Rémy Cointreau.