Getting our hands on some Octomore was a bit of a fluke.
In 2001, my dad and I were on our first tour of Scotland, the focus of which
was her distilleries (well, d'uh!). Our first visit to
Bruichladdich
on the Isle of Islay was the beginning of a perennial habit. Bruichladdich
had just reopened since becoming dormant in 1994 and were offering something
called Octomore Futures. This was the inception of the highly peated whisky
that has since become a part of their core range. The contract was for a dozen
bottles of single malt which had yet to be distilled from the most heavily
peated malt in the industry at the time - 80.5 ppm of total phenols. Dad
bought, and we waited.
In September of 2009 we brought back our first payload. Due to Canadian import restrictions (don't get me started!), we were only allowed to bring back 1.14 litres of alcohol per person without having to pay exorbitant duty. We convinced mom to come along with us on this particular trip, not the least of which was so we could bring back one more bottle of our long awaited uisge beatha! Until this point in time she had not wanted to be what she thought would be a "third wheel" on our trips, but this was a good excuse for her to relent and join us on our adventures.
Nice.
In September of 2009 we brought back our first payload. Due to Canadian import restrictions (don't get me started!), we were only allowed to bring back 1.14 litres of alcohol per person without having to pay exorbitant duty. We convinced mom to come along with us on this particular trip, not the least of which was so we could bring back one more bottle of our long awaited uisge beatha! Until this point in time she had not wanted to be what she thought would be a "third wheel" on our trips, but this was a good excuse for her to relent and join us on our adventures.
Nice.
Sampling the long awaited tipple at Caladh Sona (
Budgie and Duncan McGillivray in the Bruichladdich stillhouse in 2006
Slàinte
