Dave's Whisky Reviews: September 2020

Sunday, 13 September 2020

Octomore 8.1 & 10.4 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Got two Octomore’s today. I was pretty excited about the 10.4, being the youngest and least peated Octomore that we’ve seen in a while.

Been pretty impressed by Octomore generally, though some would put them down as gimmicks that are far too expensive for what they are. I would probably agree that they are but some of the stuff is just so stunning that I don’t really mind. 8.3 and OBA Concept come to mind. And a particular cask sample I tasted at Bruichladdich a few years back.

Octomore 8.1 58%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Earthy, mineral, granite, rocks of various kinds. It’s funny, with Octomore I don’t tend to get a huge amount of obvious smoke but more minerality and earthy notes instead. Very typical of that here.

Taste: Soft arrival, really well balanced arrival, mineral, frying pork fat, smoke smoke smoke. Pretty delicious.

Finish: Long length. The minerals and rocks are back.

167ppm. Raw and powerful.

80/100

Octomore 10.4 63.5%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Full

Nose: Pure Mezcal, Agave, Tequila and cigarettes, wet rocks, driftwood, the smell of clothes after a night out clubbing with smokers, quite sexy IMO.

Water: More funk and Octomoreishness.

Taste: Sharp and intense, big wood component but a bit flat then the huge Octomore minerality and full on vanilla and yet more wood, big salt too.

Water: Still sharp, less of the wood at first then it comes in strong. Almost Bourbon-like.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Softer and fruitier, goes a bit flaccid (haha), very dry.

3yo, 88ppm and full virgin oak matured. Absolutely lovely nose, the taste and finish not so much.

75/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #858-#859

Whisky Network Review #1032-#1033

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Sunday, 6 September 2020

Yoichi 15 Review

Hi everyone,

Yes, Japanese whisky has gone nuts. Some nice standard releases from Yoichi and Miyagikyo disappeared very, very quickly, including this one. For those that don’t know, Yoichi and Miyagikyo are two of Nikka’s actual Japanese distilleries (I.e. not Ben Nevis with Japanese water added).

I was fortunate to try this in Germany last year, courtesy of my friend Michael.

Yoichi 15 45%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Fragrant and fruity, full and oily, reminiscent of Springbank, a heaviness of the malt, vanilla pod, slightly dirty smoke, light chocolate and milky coffee. A very little grassy.

Taste: Soft then oily, great oils, some spices coming in, dry oak, vanilla pod, orange, some dirty smoke.

Finish: Medium length. More fruity with lemon and orange, drying oak.

Quite complex for 15, more smoke than the 10. Should you add it to your Japanese whisky investment portfolio? Probably not at today’s prices.

77/100