Every year, the build-up to the release of Scotland's peatiest single malt whisky gets more and more intense as global demand increases. Distilled at a snail's pace by Bruichladdich on Scotland's island of Islay (the Mecca of peated whisky) and bottled at a whopping 59.2% ABV, the legend of Octomore grows with every new batch, as more and more whisky drinkers become converts to its unbridled intensity.
This year's 13.1 release is peated to an insane 137.3 parts per million, which—to give you some context—is roughly quadruple the amount of peat you'll find in Lagavulin 16. Aged entirely in ex-Bourbon casks and distilled from 100% Scottish barley, the vanilla from the American oak and the creaminess of the malt provide a striking contrast to the salinity and brininess of the whisky, to say nothing of the smoke!
