Octomore 5 years 10.1

About the Octomore 5 years 10.1

Octomore 5 years 10.1 is a heavily peated Islay single malt Scotch whisky from Scotland. It comes from Bruichladdich, released under the Octomore name. The barley was malted to 107 phenol parts per million. Five years in cask brought it to a strength of 59.8%. Nothing was chill filtered and no colouring was added. The 10.1 label marks the first release of the tenth edition. The grain came from the 2012 Scottish harvest, all of it Concerto barley. Slow trickle distillation is the hallmark here, and it happened in 2013. Running the stills gently leaves the new make oily and muscular. Every cask then sat on Islay for the full five years. Sea air surrounds those warehouses the whole time. Bruichladdich filled the bottles at its own distillery, unchill-filtered and colouring free. Smoke this heavy could flatten everything, but it does not. Floral notes come through first, with baked apple and an earthy base. White pepper and damp wood follow. Fresh fruit takes over on the palate: peach and pineapple, then lemon peel. Cinnamon and charred oak cut the sweetness. Honey, salt and a medicinal edge sit alongside. Dark chocolate and coffee close things out, with herbal notes trailing. The tenth edition ran to four releases, and this is the stripped-back one. Only first-fill barrels from Jim Beam, Heaven Hill, Buffalo Trace and Jack Daniel's. That choice exposes structure instead of covering it. Octomore 5 years 10.1 became the benchmark the other three get measured against. Just 42,000 bottles were filled. Five years sounds young for something this intense. Here the short maturation is the point. Try it neat before anything else.