Mark Adams
7.3 is the second edition of ‘Octomore from Octomore, made using barley grown on the eponymous farm. Distilled in 2010 and peated to 169ppm, this was aged in a combination of bourbon barrels and red wine casks from Ribera del Duero in Spain. Big and bold, yet also elegant with notes of oranges, honey, cinnamon and clove.
Ladle of Contents
Octomore 7.3 Review:
Neutral nose-whiffs of oak, bananas, apple-tasting fruits, caramel, some ash and vanilla. Quite sweet.
Flavour has candied bananas, orange, cinnamon, honey, oak, ginger, vanilla, some pear. Diminishes over time to oak, ginger, grapefruit and some bitterness.
Finish- there are still some flavours left and no peat to speak of, but there is a touch of around 13ppm and a mild charcoal.
Octomore 7.3 Review:
It is very good in taste !!! It has a good complexity and great complexity, it’s bold and it’s got some spiciness tea and honey strong !!! Good and very good is the price !!!!
After tasting these two for the second time, I’m still not sure how I feel about them.
Last time around I thought the great complexity of tasting the second organoleptic note was too bombastic….watching a sunflower explode in your mouth. This time round I liked the first note and now I like the last one.
Octomore 4.2 Review:
Octomore is not as bold and spicy as the other Octomore beers I’ve had, but it is still very enjoyable. The first organoleptic flavour note is a muted sweetness, this is followed by some sweet and spicy twangy notes and some dark chocolate.
only tasted 7.3 for the first time, its great. Loads of little changes from 7.2 and the aromas are all really well balanced. A gentle fruit, sweetness and spice. Very appealing. A sweet red fruit like cherry comes with the powerful spiceiness. The spicy smooth and rustic cigar/woody taste dominates but is interesting. Tea too comes with it. Some think it loses the strong tasting power but i found the balance so incredibly nice. I am very surprised 8.3 doesnt hold reserve status.
Octomore 7.3 Review:
The fruitiness of Passion Fruit lingers over the finish of this Octomore, reminiscent of caramelised bananas. The spicy notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and the oaky notes of vanilla and toffee are all present, as well as the fruitiness. This Octomore is very enjoyable with a late bite.
Passion Fruit on the back of the glass is yellow, with a soft citrus aroma.
The Taste: The fruit is dominant, I think mostly passion fruit, the astringent qualities of tangerine adds a very refreshing quality. There is a chalky quality to the finish, I feel that there is a slight sweet caramel possibly from the baking spice and nuts. Overall there is very very sweet and a bit astringent.
The after taste too is very banana-y and a little medicinal.
Octomore 7.3 Review:
Personally I think Octomore Passions is overrated, I don’t think it is as good as the others despite it being part of the same distillation because I had really good Octomore 7.2 and had to settle for this once I was done drinking it.
The fruit is lovely but I don’t think there is as much complexity to Passion Fruit as there is to OJ, I prefer the smooth richness of OJ and the strong spicy notes of OJ are missing from this one. It reminded me of the fruitiness of an Indonesian rasam including tamarind and I think there is too much astringency for that flavour to really work.
Octomore 7.3 Review:
Decent fruit punch taste, mild spices. Long aftertaste of a nice dark bitter chocolate and oranges. A little fruitier than I thought it would be, but nothing special.
I have to wait till next time to see what the version with passion fruit is like, but from what I can tell Passion Fruit is very mild but with some spicy undertones.
I liked it thinking it would be tea-influenced, but there is only a hint of tea on the tongue. Passion fruit is very powerful. Not as sweet as japanese rasam, but it is spicy and the astringency makes it come across as more sweet. Not my favourite Octomore but I’ll come back to it.
Octomore 7.3 Review:
As usual, this is very realistic, very different taste that leaves me wanting to have another. This time I noticed it had a slightly wet texture.
A very solid Octomore tasting! Especially as I was not expecting the bitterness that the other comments talk about. This is a great blending of spicy, dry and bitter notes. Yet still very smooth flavours that go really well together!
It’s a very nice, complex and warming expression. Strong tropical fruits and a very distinctive, dry, spicy finish.
Overall 8/10
Octomore 7.3 Review:
It smoked cool, very nice to the bottom of the bowl. While in the mouth I couldn’t taste the meerschaum flavour very well, it did rise to the top of my mind, but not in a distracting way.
I had to pay better attention to its tastes in the mouth. There is a great richness to the flavour. You taste tobacco in the middle, but it really seems to come together at the ends of the tongue.
The meerschaum finish starts all over again as you swallow, it takes a few seconds to be fully ready to be swallowed again. It’s is a very dry taste with a slightly bitter tone, and it’s almost an aftertaste of sour as well. It’s a very smooth, nice taste as well.
Octomore 7.3 Review:
It’s quite similar to the regular Octomore but there is a little bit more fruit to it, and a different flavour. It’s not as dry or as spicy or as smoky. I think that it’s a pretty good blend.
