Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@Wierdo Congrats on your first Octomore. I just ordered a 10.1 from Calgary. It was under $130 at Zyn, and so probably the cheapest Octomore I have bought. Gone are the days when you could go into COOP and buy a number of batches, each around $120.00

I also ordered a Kaiyo CS bottle.

Why? It looks good. I don't recall trying anything matured in Mizunara before. I needed a 6th bottle to even out the order I put together with a few friends. And @Paddockjudge is splitting the bottle with me, so that will help avoid the never ending bottle problem I so often suffer from.

@Wierdo Nice choice for a first Octomore, the .2 series are usually travel retail exclusives and all have wine/fortified wine components.

This editions is unique in a few ways, it is 8 yrs old instead of the usual 5yrs and it is probably the most cask influenced edition, I think it is a vatting of 2nd fill sweet fortified casks that were then finished in Amarone casks for 2 years.

Should definitely be interesting.

@cricklewood I've just seen on the Bruichladdich site it's a travel retail exclusive. I didn't know that when I brought it from Whisky world. I guess someone must have brought it at the airport and then sold it at auction and whisky world brought it. I paid £135 for it. Or if the wife is asking, £45. Not sure how much it initially retailed for? Anyway they have a few different bottles on the whiskyworld website and when I cross referenced to whiskybase the 08.2 gets some of the better reviews. The 08.4 seems to get the best reviews overall but at £175 a bottle that is just too much for me.

I've noticed they've released a 10 year old Octomore now but it's not getting quite so good reviews.

@cricklewood I don't think anyone knows the source of Michter's. Probably a blend of a few sources.

@Wierdo nice pick up. I just opened my bottle of 8.2 along with two others (7.3 and 9.3) about a month ago. I need to revisit them now that it has been a month. I have had the cork off of all three for this entire time. (yes, that is correct: One month with the cork off in the back of my cabinet.) . I firmly believe that Octomores are so dense that they need plenty of air time to calm down.

My initial impression is that it was by far the most mild of the three. Part of it is ABV and age (it is 8 years old). And I am sure part of it is the wine casks. It is still dense and peaty.

I will certainly be interested to hear what you think of your first Octomore when you decide to crack it. I would recommend sooner than later. That way you can find out if Octomore is something you want to hunt down now. Further, I believe that it will only get better. I have had my bottle of Octomore 1.1 open for 10 years now and it is better now than when I opened it. But that is my experience and taste preference.

@Nock did the first release of Octomore even have a number attached, or was that a later thought to differentiate it from the numbered releases? If there was a number given, and there was no 1.2 or 1.3 release, would not the number merely have been '1'?

I am happy to hear that you think that your original Octomore bottle has improved on flavours over the years of the bottle open. I still have that 50 ml from your bottle that you gave me 6 years ago. I am looking forward to drinking it.

Yes, the first batch was clearly labeled as 1.1. And it did create confusion. My guess is that at the time of release they were already anticipating the 2.1 and 2.2 Orpheus. Here is a picture of that bottle. I am down to two 50mL bottles of that 1.1. It is still not my favorite of the releases, but I believe your experience will not be tainted in anyway when you decide to try it. I just tried in a blind line up about a year ago and I scored it a 94 which is one of the highest scores I have ever given it. My average score for that bottle is around a 92.

Here is a picture of the bottle where you can clearly see it as 01.1

When it rains whisky . . . it pours . . .

The most recent Elijah Craig Barrel Proof C919 just hit shelves in Virginia. This is my favorite “hard-to-find” (Not “impossible-to-find”) bourbon. I have been scouring the stores on “truck-day” asking about the ECBP. I have had no luck with picking up Stagg Jr, Weller Antique, or Elmer T. Lee. Thankfully, the ECBP hasn’t totally caught on yet. So when I stopped by the store and noticed it was still in boxes on the floor waiting to be put on the shelves I simply asked if I could buy the box. I then drove to another store and was able to pick up two more.

Why 5 bottles? Because that is what I was able to lay my hands on. I have a strict "don't-leave-an-ECBP-bottle-on-the-shelf" policy. If only I had adopted that policy about BTAC years ago . . .

@Nock 68.4%! Pretty powerful stuff.

That would have come to $900 in Ontario. You are an extremely lucky fellow.

I would be jealous except I have 2 bottles in the bunker and the one I opened in June 2018 is still more than half full.

I agree with you though, and when I am in the US next year, if I see one, I will have to get one.

@Wierdo sounds like you got a pretty good deal on your purchase despite it being the highest you've paid for a bottle. Don't regard the hype about the amount of peat and just focus on the density and layers of the spirit which is draw of Octomore. Too much emphasis has been placed on the PPM's initially I think Bruichladdich was responsible for this but now the peatheads flogged it to death.

There have been 3 versions of 10 yr old Octomore thus far, none of them get the same reverence as the younger versions, I suspect that the immediacy of the heavy spirit is reduced with that many years and thus the more "thrill seeking" fans are not as engaged by this. Case in point the Octomore 8.1 received many lukewarm responses and yet I think it is one of the better crafted ones of the bunch, not my favorite but probably the most balanced experience .

@Nock very enlightening observations on the Octomore range, after seeing how long you've held on to some 1.1 I see it is drawn from extensive experience.

@Astroke the closest I've been able to get is that a lot of their younger offerings are from contracts with Brown-Forman but they have a lot of stocks of older stuff that is from different distilleries.

@Nock, I'll be right over!

Recent purchase:

Mortlach 16 YO - after some promising reviews here and elsewhere I was sold. Finally scored a bottle. Took a long time to find it here.

Legent Bourbon - curious about cask finish bourbons recently.

BenRiarch 22 YO Dark Rum - loved the 15 YO, got it for a steal of a deal.

Managed to get this by saying it will be my Christmas present - but I don't think I'll be waiting until then to open it Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks.

@Hewie The colour looks fabulous thanks to your creative use of back light. Let us know the verdict when you crack it. I doubt you can go wrong with that one.

@cricklewood I do have some experience with Octomore. I am now a fan. The initial release really put me off. I was disappointed with that bottle of 01.1 for years. I bought both it and the competition (Ardbeg Supernova which I liked far more). It has really only been since I decanted it into small 50mL bottles that I have come to appreciate it. That was after giving PC7 several years to open up. Here is the collection of Octomores. Yes, they are now all open (except for 8.4 which was signed by Adam at the distillery . . . the wife won't let me open that one yet).

@Nock one month with the cork off!! I don't think I'm brave enough!

I opened my Octomore last night as I was eager to try it. That is one of the fastest turn arounds for me between buying a bottle and opening it. I gave it 2 hours in the glass before starting to sip it. Dense is defintely a word you could use to describe it. The nose on it is incredible with all that peat and then fruity notes from the wine casks.

My initial impression is I'm a little underwhelmed. It is a decent dram and certainly different but I just finished a bottle of Port Charlotte 10 last week and that is a third of the price of the Octomore and got better and better to the point that by the end I was really enjoying it. Last night if you had offered ti swap my Octomore for a couple of bottles of PC10 I'd have been tempted.

But I'm wise enough to know not to judge a whisky on the first dram after opening and I'm also aware my palate will need to adjust to such a new experience. I'l leave the Octomore at least a month now before going back to it and keep going back to this bottle again and again over a couple of years to give it time to develop. I may well love it by the end.

@RianC I'll put a dram aside for you for my next parcel

@Wierdo - Nice one! I have a Laph 10 CS sample for you as well ... (PM pending!)

I remember you saying a while back that the age and cost of an Octomore was off-putting; I feel the same. I've just been looking at the 9.1 (£115) for xmas but, like you, feel that I could get two high quality bottles for that price. I tried an IB (Rest & Be Thankful) Octomore a while back and did like it - very intense and herbal are my main memories of it. I guess at some point I'll bite the bullet and pick one up.

@Wierdo Ya, that was my initial impression of the 8.2 as well. Underwhelmed. I strongly believe that given enough air time it will develop into a velvet hammer.

And I agree that the Port Charlotte 10yo is fantastic right out of the gate.

It took almost 6 months for my bottle of 8.3 to make the “turn.” I knew it could happen. I had a pour at a bar where the bottle was nearly empty. When I opened my bottle I was shocked by how different it was. But my experience with PC7 told me that it would take a great deal of time for this whisky to “bloom.” The 8.3 has been a year and a half open. It is now one of my favorite whiskies that I have ever tried.

On first opening last month the 9.3 was the most approachable and enjoyable. The 7.3 the most offensive and the 8.2 the most underwhelming. All were underwhelming compared with my open bottle of 8.3. That is the reason for the month of sitting with the cork off. I hope to get a free night here in the next few days to try them all in a semi blind tasting and report back.

@RianC I would recommend passing on the 9.1. It is really underwhelming for an Octomore. I think you will simply regret your purchase. If you are going to buy an Octomore go for the 9.3. Yes, it is more money, but it is also the better Octomore experience. It really is more of what Octomore is about.

These were sitting in Nova Scotia for some time, sis finally got around to shipping them to me.

@Astroke Nice haul. Interesting the difference between fill levels on the two Masterson's.

@BlueNote , I noticed that right away, not a leaker though. I will be opening it first.

I've been contemplating buying a Lagavulin 12 Cask Strength 2018. "Contemplating" being the operative word given the higher price of this product over their core range. Then I see this and it becomes a no-brainer.

I couldn't figure out which thread to post this in.

lcbo.com/webapp/wcs/…

@fiddich1980 This would be right at home in the “How fucked up is the LCBO” thread. That’s an even goofier price than BC Liquor Stores.

@fiddich1980 did the LCBO mistake it for Ardbeg

@fiddich1980 Still it's an expensive purchase, and the 12 is not much cheaper than in Alberta. I picked one up because I was trading in old gifts, but I am not yet at the point where I will pay that much for a bottle.

My wife was at Costco today and picked up 3 of the 4 Game of Thrones bottles they had in stock (She passed on the Dalwhinnie.) I actually have pretty low expectations for these. However, I haven’t had any Lagavulin, Talisker or Oban in my cabinet for a while, so why not? I’m most excited for the Lagavulin, but with Diageo, you never know. Time will tell if we regret purchasing these...

A Sazerac Straight Rye. Why? It was on offer for £36 (so not bad at all) and it has been on my ryedar (ahem!) for a while.

Reviews all seem quite positive too with many saying it is a must buy for any rye fan. Well, who am I to argue?!