Another addition to the extremely popular (and extremely peaty) Octomore series. This is an “uber-provenance” single malt from Progressive Hebridean Distillers, Bruichladdich.

The 09.3 edition is part of Bruichladdich’s recent Dialogos range, a limited series of Octomore releases designed to provoke debate amongst whisky drinkers.

The whisky has been produced using a small parcel (just 52 tonnes) of Islay Concerto barley grown at Irene’s Field on Octomore Farm, local to the distillery. These barley was malted and peated to a fearsome 133ppm – not quite the scorching levels we have seem from some recent Octomore releases, but still powerful enough to knock your socks off! The barley came entirely from the 2011 harvest, and was distilled in 2012.

The spirit has been matured on Islay, in a mixture of first fill American oak, 3rd fill virgin oak, 2nd fill Rivesaltes red wine casks, 2nd fill Syrah red wine casks and 2nd fill former Bourbon barrels. The emphasis on second fill barrels is to ensure that the flavour of the barley and the peat take centre stage in this whisky. This Octomore is bold and youthful at 5 years old.

The final result is a deeply malty and smoky dram, which serves up flavours of fresh, slightly burnt bread, black tea, heather and classic ‘Laddich flowers, slight vanilla, smoked molasses, red wine, earthy peat, peaches, pears and apples, sea spray and heavily toasted oak.

Bottled at a cask strength of 62.9% ABV and without chill filtration or colouration, this is an intense taste of Islay.

This is a small batch offering of 18,000 bottles drawn from just 134 casks.

• Product type
  Single Malt
• Distillery / brand
  Octomore
• Country
  Scotland
• Region
  Islay
• Bottler
  Distillery Bottling
• Non-chillfiltered
  Yes
• Natural colour
  Yes
• SKU
  039681