Comparing Octomore 11.1 and 11.3 gives one of our finest lessons in stratospheric smoke and barley terroir. While both editions are malted to a Brobdingnagian 100+PPM reading, the differences in barley character from the respective growing region is ever present. Our Octomore Islay barley is grown each year by friend and farmer James Brown, on Octomore farm itself. It is harvested, malted and distilled separately, even from our other Islay barley harvests, in order to become a single field, single vintage single malt.
CHARACTER – Such a distinct expression of Octomore, so much of the flavour comes from the malted barley and the distillation. The distillation techniques allow us to slowly coax the flavours from the grain influenced so much by the location it is grown and truly express a unique flavour based on these fundamentals.
AROMA – Eight floral character on the nose, Summery and bright. The peat smoke is slow to rise initially but comes through with a light touch, clean and dry and very much in the background. Lovely light floral notes and sweet citrus, with honey and vanilla really holding everything together.
TASTE – Texturally this dram has a fantastic presence on the palate, holding the high strength perfectly. A gentle sweetness, honey and fruit syrup arrive, orange blossom, apricot jam and again the floral bouquet all gentle soft notes are holding off the phenols, a testament to the distillation techniques to allow the character of our spirit to come through with being dominated by the high level of phenols.
FINISH – Naturally the phenolic presence comes through on the finish, the floral notes fade and the dry smoke, earthy with dry grass come through. Burnt heather, toffee and malt sugar all play a part in a complex long finish.
COLOUR – Barley straw.
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