Supernova - Octomore

[Ganga]

Well, I've spoken to several people about there preferences between the Supernova and the Octomore and I will have the opportunity to have these head to head in the near future. Since there seems to be a little mix in the feedback on these, I thought I would put this out to a poll.

Let us know why you voted the way you did too.

[mikeymad]

They are young and pretty harsh... For the money there are a lot of things out there to buy.

One note is there is a few releases out there all called Octomore (the Official US release, future bottlings, etc... )

Cheers,

[Ganga]

Excellent point Mikey. It would be nice to know which version of the Octomore people have had for comparison.

[Willie JJ]

They are young and pretty harsh... For the money there are a lot of things out there to buy.

I agree that they are not good value for money. I think that both the Octomore futures, the 01.1 and the Supernova are really too young to have been bottled. In time they may be excellent, but not yet imo. The Octomore futures bottling seems young, feinty and the 84ppm peating level does not mask that. The Octo 01.1 at 131ppm does mask the youth until water is added and then it falls apart. Unfortunately, it is really one dimensional at full strength. There is one proviso to this; the 01.1 is ok if you drink it at the end of a night of heavily peated malt. Then it seems to make some sense. Of the three the Ardbeg is the one that stands up best. I think it is just that the basic spirit is more robust and characterful than that of the Laddie and that's why the youth is less significant in the final product. All in all the mega-peating experiments are very interesting, but I think that these whiskies should be tasted to satisfy your curiosity and then your money should be better spent elsewhere.

Cheers

[mikeymad]

Good points Willie....

It is strange though that after having them HTH I was liking the Supernova more. But then later on, when I was thinking about trying one of them again. I wanted to try the Octomore... The Supernova had more character to it, but also seemed to attack more. So when it came down to it, I think that I would enjoy drinking the Octomore more as a beverage (more than a samples worth).

This was the US release of both the Supernova and Octomore.

Cheers,

[borgom]

I'm just tasting the 0.1.1 for the first time. I wasn't expecting much and I have to say that so far it's delivering even less. I'll reserve judgement for now (especially since I might have burnt out my tastebuds with the Kilchoman 2yo) but i'm wishing I spent the money on a young heavily peated Jura instead. It's not even particularly peaty!!! Most heavily peated whisky ever? Yeah right.....rubbish, pah and humbug with a bit of bullderdash on the side

[borgom]

Ok, so I've read the Octomore tasting notes on other sites and everyone says it's very peaty.
I've tried it again now, with and without water, and there's still no peat. So I try PC6, which I know to be peaty, and there's none there either.
Darn it! My peat receptors seem to be on the blink. Does anyone know of a good method to get them going again?

[les taylor]

Complete abstention from whisky for at least 2 weeks is indicated borgom

Nick or there's the old couple of large drams of Ledaig Nas routine, just to get you back to neutral.

[borgom]

Abstinence? NOOOOOoooooooooooo..........!!!!!!!!!!

[Ganga]

Last night I tried the Octo futures and the Supernova. As far as full frontal nude peatiness the Supernova is the beast. It seems to have a fair bit of oily, peaty layers but is missing malt and fruit components that I like in Ardbeg. The Octomore was better at presenting a sweet maltiness with a suprisingly light presentation of peat smoke, maybe even lighter than the lightly peated Blasda.

Result: I can't say that I prefer either over the other. I'd really like to see the Octomore at a higher proof and both with a few more years under their belt.

[sku]

Result: I can't say that I prefer either over the other. I'd really like to see the Octomore at a higher proof and both with a few more years under their belt.

You want to see the Octomore at higher proof but with a few more years under its belt? Given that it's bottled at cask strength, how do you reckon they'll accomplish that?

[Ganga]

SKU, the Octomore Futures was not bottled at cask strength. It was bottled at 46% and if recollection serves, under 6 yo. Supernova was at cask strength of 58.9% Both are still young and probably would be very nice at say around 10 yo of age and roughly 50+%.

[sku]

SKU, the Octomore Futures was not bottled at cask strength. It was bottled at 46% and if recollection serves, under 6 yo. Supernova was at cask strength of 58.9% Both are still young and probably would be very nice at say around 10 yo of age and roughly 50+%.

Thanks Ganga, sorry I missed that you were talking about the futures bottling. Have you tried the standard bottling, which is cask strength (63.5% abv)?

[Ganga]

Not yet. I hope to in the near future.

[DukeofSandwich]

I thought the Supernova was pretty damn good. The Octomore Futures bottling tasted very young with a solventy nose and a funny off note in the finish. Wish I had bought a bottle of the official Octomore release from the UK when it came out, they decided to jack it up to $180 a bottle when released in the US.

[Ganga]

Thoughts on the Octo 1.1

Nose: new leather shoes and polish, charred or toasted grains, light solvency, some roasted seaweed
Palate: oily, diesel, charred oak, roasted barley, some iodine
Finish: long, oily, grainy

[sku]

Thoughts on the Octo 1.1

Nose: new leather shoes and polish, charred or toasted grains, light solvency, some roasted seaweed
Palate: oily, diesel, charred oak, roasted barley, some iodine
Finish: long, oily, grainy

Having tasted all three now, how would you compare it to the Futures bottling and the Supernova?

[Ganga]

Both the Nova and the Octo 1.1 offer up a strong peatiness that doesn't seem to be there for the futures. All three are young and would be nicer with a few more years under the belt. I personally like the futures more than the other two, mostly because it isn't as intensely peated.

It would be nice if the three of them were a little more reasonably priced for what they are. None compare to the Ardbeg 10, Bowmore 12, Laphroaig 10 and 10 CS in terms of quality (and quality to price ratio-yes Tattie Frodometrics).