Octomore 12.3 Ochdamh-mòr 70cl 62.1°
Octomore 12.3 is a vintage Single Malt, 12th edition and 3rd variation of the famous peaty series from the Bruichladdich distillery.
Sourced from barley grown at Church Field on Islay by farmer James Brown, this whisky was distilled just two miles from this farm. He then benefited from a combined maturation: 75% in old American whiskey casks, the remaining 25% spent five years maturing in authentic casks of Pedro Ximenez Solera de Jerez bodega Fernando de Castilla.
The Single Malt has slowly borrowed for five years from the wood of the barrels its marine notes of salty citrus fruits, the result of the place where barley is grown and the proximity of the distillery's warehouses to the sea. Pedro Ximenez's barrels provide notes of sweet dried fruit that highlight the rich dry peat of Octomore.
-Malted to 118.1 PPM
-Distilled in 2015 from the 2014 harvest of 100% Octomore Farm grown Concerto barley
-Two parcels of super heavily peated spirit were married together to create this 12.3. The first parcel (75%) was matured full term in first fill American whiskey casks. The second parcel (25%) was matured full term in first fill PX sherry butts from Fernando De Castilla
-Matured on Islay for 5 aged years
-Bottled non chill-filtered and colouring free at Bruichladdich Distillery
-Bottled at 62.1% alc./vol
*PPM - parts per million - of phenolic compounds, measure the impact of oily smoke from peat that settles on germinated barley during drying. The longer it lasts, the higher the ppm value.
| Volume | 0.7 L |
| ABV | 62.1 ° |
| Type | Single malt |
| Distillery | Bruichladdich |
| Country | Scotland |
| Region | Islay |
| Age | 5 years |
| Maturation | Bourbon & Sherry |
| Peat | Heavily Peated |
| Characteristics | Cask Strength & Non-Chill Filtered |
| Reference: | 24863 |
The peated whiskies of Islay are 30 to 45 ppm*. The first Octomore 1.1., released in 2007, is peated to 131ppm. And one of the last releases, the 6.3. is peated to 258ppm…
Jim McEwan from the Bruichladdich distillery recalls the philosophy by which the distillery crafted the Port Charlotte and Octomore whiskies: “When I asked Bairds, our Inverness malting house, to produce heavily peated barley, it was only curiosity. Just to see what would happen. I had in mind the taste of slow cold-smoked salmon, and I wanted to apply this to whisky. The barley took 5 days to dry… Then, I never asked to raise the peat level, this simply happened. Just like the waves on the sea, you do not always see the bigger ones rolling.”
A rare fact in Scotland, the Bruichladdich distillery uses an open mash tun. Its onion-shaped stills have a very flat base and a slender body. During distillation, alcohol vapours rise slowly, imparting finesse and elegance to the whisky.
With each release, Octomore has been developing even more depth and peated notes. Donald McKenzie, Octomore manager for the Dugas Company in France, deems that “Octomore is a technical whisky, a heavily peated, oily and powerful challenge but still extremely refined. It is a rare, excessive, exceptional whisky.”
The Octomore versions are classified by two numbers separated by a dot. The first number is the batch, the second one is an indication of the whisk maturation. 1 for 100% Bourbon casks, 2 for various cask types. 3 refers to the use of Islay barley.
*PPM - phenols parts per million, measuring the influence of the oily smoke peat infusing the germinated barley during the drying process. The longer the exposure, the highest the ppm value is. A well peated Islay whisky reaches a 40-50 ppm. But every whisky still develops its very own character and mouthfeel sensation, depending on the style of each distillery.
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