Scotch Review #85: Octomore Masterclass 8.1

Distillery: Bruichladdich

Region: Islay

ABV: 59.3%

Age: 8

Price: $139

Color: 0.4, Jonquil/Ripe Corn. Natural Color and non-Chill Filtered

---

Nose: (according to the wife) There’s a bit of burnt rubber/tires up front but that’s replaced pretty quickly by the main note of a lovely, savory, smokey, and salty ham. Specifically, it reminds her of Black Forest ham but a bit smokier than usual. Hidden in with the ham are apples and honey. And then, of course, there’s loads of peat (mostly the medicinal type).

Palate: Peat for days. Medicinal peat, smokey peat, all the peat. That smoked ham note from the nose continues to show itself in the palate along with a bit of charcoal. With some water, some salty sea air comes through. The craziest part of this for me though is that it feels fizzy/carbonated while it’s sitting on my tongue, like a slightly flat soda. While it clearly isn’t carbonated, the sensation is pretty clear.

Finish: Medium-to-long in length. Smoked pork, both bacon and ham this time, are a major player n this. There’s some more smoke, charcoal, and some more of that soda fizz. With some water, the medicinal like peat comes out a bit.

Conclusion: This isn’t the first Octomore I’ve had a chance to have but it’s the first I’ve been able to review. And it’s a really fun dram. It’s really savory with a lot of meatiness to it. The smoked ham is all the way through and dominates this dram. The peat is there and very noticeable. But for all of this, the thing that’s most fun about this dram for me is that it feels fizzy. Now this review is from the first pour out of my bottle and maybe that’s part of it. Someone on the Discord was theorizing that the high concentration of peat spice might be coming across as an extreme tingling sensation. Perhaps that’s it but it’s a lot of fun either way. Would I buy another bottle? Not another. This one will be around a long while as it is.

Final Score: 86.

Scotch Whisky review #85, Island Whisky Review #13, Whisky Network Review #110

---

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.