Scotch Whisky Review #286: Rest & Be Thankful Octomore 7 Year French Oak Cask (2008)

Distillery: Bruichladdich

Bottler: Rest & Be Thankful

Region: Islay

Age: 6 year. Distilled on 19th of March, 2008, and bottled on the 6th of May, 2015

ABV: 63.9% Cask Strength

Cask Type: French Oak

Cask Number: 20080000908

Price: Sample courtesy of Whiskery Turnip.

Color: 1.1, Burnished. Non-Chill Filtered and Natural Color.

---

Nose: It’s quite different than it’s siblings. The peat is there, sure, but I get a rich caramel/dulce de leche note. Almost as if it’s smoked caramel? There’s a bit of umami in the form of a soy sauce and balsamic reduction. It’s lightly meaty and kind of like sticking your head in a bag of dashida.

Palate: More of that caramel note, though it comes across as salted caramel. It’s really rich and gives off quite the luxurious mouthfeel. The French oak comes through and gives a slight nuttiness to the salted caramel. Towards the back, you start getting umami notes of the soy sauce and balsamic reduction. With a little bit of water, the flavors all seem to intensify. More of the balsamic comes through with even more of the salted caramel and a little bit of a crumbly, buttery bread that’s somewhere between shortbread and corn bread.

Finish: Lasts seemingly forever. It’s really meaty and savory. There’s a slight fattiness and butteriness to it that reminds me of wagyu beef nigiri that’s been lightly seared with a blowtorch. A little bit more fattiness comes afterwards that just reminds me of the aburi salmon at our favorite sushi restaurant. It’s delicious and I’m just left wanting for more. The very last notes here are of peaty malt biscuits and a bit of buttery shortbread.

---

Conclusion: Every now and again, I come across a whisky that leaves me with more questions than when I started. This Rest & Be Thankful Octomore is one of them. How have Bruichladdich have managed to shove an obscene amount of flavor into a pretty young malt? This is far more than just purely peaty goodness. This Octomore starts with an amazingly delicious salted caramel, goes into a delicious soy sauce and balsamic reduction, before finishing on some mouth watering meaty notes complete with buttery baked goods. It’s absolutely phenomenal and I’m left wanting more and more.

Final Score: 96.

Scotch Whisky Review #286, Islay Review #44, Whisky Network Review #429

---

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.