Bruichladdich unveils 16th ‘boundary pushing’ Octomore series
Islay distillery Bruichladdich has revealed its 16th annual Octomore series, which features ‘sky-high’ PPMs, traceable barley, and a unique selection of global casks.
The series, which launches today (2 September), features three expressions, each of which has been described as layered, complex and ‘ever changing’. The collection is an evolution from series 15, which debuted last year, featuring new ideas and experiments from the brand’s master blender Adam Hannett. Speaking exclusively with The Spirits Business, Hannett explains that with each Octomore series, the aim is always to push boundaries while simultaneously educating to make the whisky accessible. “It’s a bit of a contradiction. We encourage people to compare the expressions, not just horizontally across the range, but vertically: what differences do they taste between the 15.1 and the 16.1, for example? When you are doing things the way we do at Bruichladdich, no two casks are going to taste identical,” he says. “This year we’ve got a completely different cask make up on the .2. Last year, we released the second most-heavily peated expression to date in the 15.3 – a stratospheric 307.2 PPM (phenol parts per million) – and this year, we’ve got something that on paper should be more gentile but still packs a punch when it comes to phenols. The reason we’ve done this is to show that it’s not about the phenol level alone, it’s about the maturation profile, the near-cask strength ABV, and the age of the spirit. It’s the combination of all these things that makes Octomore such a unique and special series.” The collection starts with Octomore 16.1, which provides the reference point for this series’ ‘unorthodox’ experimentation. The whisky has been crafted using 100% Scottish mainland Concerto barley, malted to 101.4 PPM and aged in cask for five years. Boasting an ABV of 59.3%, the liquid has matured in first-fill Bourbon barrels for five years, bringing intense peat smoke with ‘surprising’ delicacy, with notes of salted caramel, honeyed melon and apricot followed by chocolate and coconut, accompanied by a wave of earthy minerality and lingering smoke. It is priced at £140 (US$188). Second in the series is Octomore 16.2, priced at £155 (US$208) which uses the same distillate as the 16.1, but instead has been aged in a selection of oloroso Sherry and Bordeaux casks before being finished in Madeira and Portuguese Moscatel for a rich and complex flavour of caramelised sugar, roasted nuts, and dried fruits that are enveloped in sweet smoke. Hannett explains that this is the first time the distillery has used this combination of casks in an Octomore bottling, “which is exciting when you consider that this is our 16th series,” he exclaims. “Taking liquid that had been matured in Bordeaux and oloroso casks, we had the option to finish in a wide variety of casks, however I selected Madeira and Moscatel for the lovely fruity and nutty flavours that they would impart, complementing the red fruits and spices from the original casks. This is quite an extraordinary dram, you can see that from the colour of the liquid alone, so experimenting with the casks has paid off.” He adds: “I am really excited about the 16.2 this year. The unique cask make-up has led to a liquid that is balanced, complex and packing so much in terms of flavour, and of that beautiful, dry campfire smoke Octomore is known for.” Octomore 16.3 rounds off today’s releases, and is a showcase of single farm, single field, and single vintage whisky-making. The whisky has been produced in its entirety from barley grown on Octomore Farm – specifically in Church Field – located a few miles from the distillery. This ultra-high provenance single malt whisky explores the influence of this barley, and offers a symphony of honeyed malt, toasted grain and a distinctive earthiness that meets delicate notes of smoke and salinity. The whisky has been aged in a combination of Bourbon, Sauternes and Pedro Ximénez casks, which Hannett says has brought forward some “really interesting flavours”. “Bourbon brings that vanilla, caramel and coconut flavour, which pairs really well with the smoke. With PX, you get richness and sweet dark fruit flavours. These are balanced by the Sauternes cask, which brings a light fruitiness and freshness and a citrus quality. "But,” he says, “this dram is really about the Islay barley, grown just two miles from the distillery on Octomore Farm. Ultra-high provenance and fully traceable, the locally grown barley brings the essence of Islay into the liquid, with an earthiness, a cereal sweetness, and those lovely floral notes of heather and gorse.” Octomore 16.3 rests at 61.6% ABV, and clocks in at 189.5 PPM. It is priced at £195 (US$262). Despite the high phenols found in all three expressions, the smoky notes in each are described as dry and campfire-like rather than medicinal, which is more typical for high phenol whiskies. Hannett reveals that the biggest influence on Octomore’s unique character is the way they distil, specifically “the cuts we take in the still house and the shape and size of our stills. Our stills are tall and narrow, and we distil slowly so our spirit is light and full of flavour and viscosity. When we take the cuts to determine which fraction of the distillation makes it into our new make spirit, the quality of the spirit comes first and foremost, with how smoky the spirit is always secondary.” He explains that the phenols tend to come through in greater proportion towards the end of the spirit run and into the tails, so rather than chase the phenols into the tails and lose quality, they opt to “let them go and get what we get in terms of smoke”. This tends to mean the flavours they pick up are drier and earthier, “like burnt heather and beach bonfire – ashy rather than oily and medicinal”, he shares. Octomore 16.4 In November 2025, the distillery will release a final expression in the range, the 16.4. An e-commerce exclusive, the 16.4 showcases the ‘dynamic tension and ultimate harmony’ achieved between French virgin oak and heavily-peated Islay barley. Malted to 189.5 PPM and bottled at 62.6% ABV, the whisky offers a subtle, earthy undercurrent from the barley with notes of toasted oak, roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate, and a hint of sweet smoke. Hannett explains that for Octomore, its higher peating levels typically expand the number of casks they are able to experiment with. For example, he shares that the “perception around Virgin oak is that it's too powerful and it will completely dominate the delicate flavours of the spirit. And of course, if you leave it and don't manage it, it absolutely will. “When we first tried Virgin oak, we wanted to see the impact of super-heavy peat and this powerful oak, and they just worked really nicely because there is such power and presence in those heavy phenols. With Octomore, you’ve got a super heavy peated spirit paired with equally powerful Virgin oak, the latter of which can be quite dominating. But because we’re bottling the spirit relatively young, at five aged years, the oak doesn’t overpower the final flavour.” 'Octomore worthy' spirits Hannett shares that with each new Octomore series that is released, the aim is always to craft something exciting for the consumers in order to “give them something new to experience”. “We work on each series from before the spirt is distilled to the moment it goes into the bottle, allowing us to develop each whisky all through its life and ensure it reaches its full potential. Determining if a release makes it into a new series is a judgement call I am happy to make. Everything we bottle I am proud to put my name to, as I know it’s history and how much work we have put into that whisky.” He explains that if there is a liquid that he feels needs more time, they will know well before they come to bottle, “so we can make decisions to ensure we have the best, flavour-forward whiskies that educate and challenge convention with each release.” The question, however, is what makes a cask ‘Octomore worthy’? “Octomore is experimental by nature,” Hannett says. “If you think about other whisky brands, they are releasing the same product to the world, year after year, and so consistency is absolutely key for them. Not so for Octomore: we release four new products in a series each year, which gives us the freedom to experiment with casks without being constrained by that need for absolute uniformity – essentially the world is our oyster!” This, he explains, allows the team to get creative and try different cask combinations. “It keeps things fresh and exciting. Ultimately, how we decide is based on flavour – what casks and combinations of casks bring the best, most unique flavour, the most excitement. We’re always pushing ourselves to do something different.” With more than 200 different cask types available in the Bruichladdich warehouses, each sourced from some of the finest cooperages and chateaux in the world, Hannett and his team are not short of options for each year’s releases. But beyond the quality of the casks and the exceptional quality of the wood, he explains that it comes down to personal preference. “That’s the great thing about Octomore – you’ve got four different expressions with four different maturation profiles, so you can experiment across the range and really think about what flavours you enjoy in your whisky. “Without sounding too flippant, I have always found that when you have excellent quality wood from a good source, and good quality of spirit, you can’t go too far wrong. It’s about paying attention to the spirit as it matures and thinking about the flavours developing and how you can use them in combination with other casks to create amazing whiskies.”
