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Saturday, 20/Sep/2008
Octomore 2002 Futures Islay Single Malt Released
The countdown is running. In about 29 or 30 days from writing this entry, when I'm back on Islay again, I will pick up my Bruichladdich Octomore Futures. The spirit was distilled on Islay on 16/Oct/2002, although for me the story only really began in April 2005, when at the end of WalkIslay 2005 I bought my futures. Yesterday I received the letter from Bruichladdich I had been waiting for...
The whisky takes its name from James Brown's Octomore farm, which is home to the Octomore Well or Dirty Dotty's Well, supplying the water used by Bruichladdich distillery to reduce the whisky from cask strength to 46% during the bottling process. Apart from the well Octomore also had a (short-lived) distillery more than 150 years ago, giving the name to the new whisky.
The Octomore is the most heavily peated of the Bruichladdich whiskies at 80.5 ppm. The first distillation was filled into 200 casks, of which the first 800 cases were offered for purchase as Octomore Futures. I'm not entirely sure when exactly the sale of the futures started, what I do know is that I've bought one of the last available in April 2005. Having toyed with the idea for a while I finally had the courage at the last minute. Then the wait began.
In May 2008 Jim McEwan decided the first Octomore was ready to be bottled. I had hoped to pick my case up in July this year during my summer holiday on Islay, but the administration (the futures were sold ‘underbond’ i.e. duty and VAT still have to be paid) wasn't ready yet and the whisky hadn't been released.
Yesterday the letter from Bruichladdich arrived informing me that the Octomore Futures had now been released and how to get hold of my case. As one of the options is to pick it up in person from the distillery I decided to wait another month and pick it up myself during my next visit to Islay in October.
To finish this entry a few quotes from Jim McEwan's tasting notes for the Bruichladdich Octomore:
The spirit glows with all the warmth of a peat fire on a stormy winters night, it reaches deep into the soul with a youthful passion that can only come from an Islay spirit.
The flavours are of the west coast and its characteristics wild and untamed.
There is also the coming together of the sweetness from mellow oak, the fruitiness of ultra slow distillation, the crispness of Scottish barley and the fresh marine notes that remain with you throughout the tasting experience.
More about the Octomore in a month...
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