Octomore Black Art (OBA/c.01) - 59,7%
Photo taken somewhere in Stuttgart
Age: Undisclosed. Peat level in PPM: Undisclosed. Considering Bruichladdich's total transparency in general, those non existing facts plus the usage of signal colours and a smaller bottle size created the perfect hype back in 2018. It took one minute until it was sold out. Like everyone else we are really curious which casks Adam Hannet used for his witcheries. Like Cesar said, let the guessing games beginn.
Nose
Holy gentleman's room! Chesterfield leather, Cigar ashes and smoked cinnamon rolls, our guts are straightly whispering a tale of red wine casks. There is a strong dirtiness of muck and wet hay on a seaside farm. Why seaside? Because we also get a distinct salinity and medicinal notes of iodine and kelp. We are clearly wading through Islay waters. The bouquet isn't that complex, but super rich and heavily peated.
With water: The cinnamon sweetness subsides and the farmy notes get even stronger. Now, it almost feels like sitting in a barn, next to some Islay cows and sheeps. Wether you appreciate it or not, this is terroir ladies and gents.
Palate
The first touch is so bloody sweet and oily, that it's instantly watering the whole mouth. Really mellow and not sharp at all. The alcohol is perfectly integrated and almost not noticable. Our greetings to the master distiller!
With water: Barbecued vanilla cake and fudge, spiced with cinnamon and cloves.
Finish
Medium long and full of Islay medicine! Namely rubber, iodine, ashes and cloves. Smokeheads will love it!
Rating
It's no secret that we are not really supporters of red wine finishes. But in case we are right with our guess, this is on of the most sucessful red wine finishes we ever had (even if it's not the best Octomore we tried to be frank). The coastal and farmy notes on the nose were much to our liking. But this is distinctive for Octomore, so it's up to everybody to decide if it's worth breaking the piggy bank. In our opinion it doesn't reach the magical complexity of the non peated Black Arts from Laddie.
