Bruichladdich launches new Octomore and Black Art whiskies

Bruichladdich has announced the debut of its latest whisky expressions, Black Art 09.1 and the Octomore 12 series, in Singapore.

Bruichladdich Black Art 09.1 is the oldest of the nine whiskies bottled in the series to date - at 29 years old, the unpeated spirit was distilled before the closure of the Bruichladdich Distillery in 1994. It has been bottled at 44.1% ABV with a recommended sale price of S$720.

As with previous editions in the Black Art series, Bruichladdich head distiller Adam Hannett has kept the cask types chosen for the bottling a secret. 

Hannett said: "With this edition of Black Art, I took inspiration from the groundwork done in the early days of this series, where there was a restless pursuit to layer flavour.

"This whisky would rest in some of the finest casks, sometimes for just a few weeks, adding a delicate layer of fruit before we moved the whisky on again - carefully waiting, watching and tasting, looking to chart new directions with each new cask we used until finally arriving at a point of perfection." 

The 12th series of the Octomore single malt, Bruichladdich's ultra-peated spirit, pushes the peat level past 100ppm. As with previous Octomore series, the 12.1 (RSP S$260) acts as the 'control' of the experimental range, and, as with previous Octomore .1 expressions overseen by Hannett, it was matured it in ex-American oak casks for five years.

The 12.2 (RSP S$300) takes inspiration from the successful Octomore 4.2 (Comus), which was finished in ex-Sauternes wine casks. It spent three and a half years in ex-American oak before being recasked into Sauternes casks for 18 months.

Finally, the single-vintage 12.3 (RSP S$365) explores the terroir of the distillery's Islay-grown grain, combined for the first time with sherry maturation. Of the spirit distilled, 75 per cent was filled into ex-American oak casks and 25 per cent into Pedro Ximénez solera casks for a five-year maturation. 

The four expressions are available from VAULT50 (with special offers running through January) as well as Rémy Cointreau's LazMall, Shopee and Amazon.

18 January 2022 - Bethany Whymark