North Star Periodical Caol Ila 7yo Port Octave

The Maker

North Star Spirits is a relatively new entrant to the growing independent bottling scene. It was established by husband and wife team Iain and Zoe Croucher in 2016 and has established itself as one of the more exciting and affordable indi releasers on the market.

In the years since North Star has expanded to include a number of different product lines. At the heart has always been the Single Cask series which releases around a half dozen bottles every few months. Every one of these I’ve tried has been of high quality, especially the 60.9% Sherry Butt Caol Ila I reviewed back in 2022. Since then the range has expanded significantly to include, among other things, the Periodical series (expanded upon below), and Obscurities - which claims to focus on ‘oddities and the bizarre’ of the whisky world. I have to confess that looking at these releases I’ve so far failed to identify anything especially odd or bizarre about them. They also have a series of blends, including the Tarot range which makes the most of North British grain distillery and malts from the Edrington group - such as Highland Park and Macallan.

Beyond that there isn’t a huge amount to say about North Star. They seem to be going from strength to strength off the back of positive comments from across the whisky community. Indeed, business must be going particularly well for them given that they are developing their own new distillery down in Campbeltown called Dal Riata. It will apparently have a capacity of 850,000 litres (which is slightly more than the nearby heavyweight Springbank). All being well we should be getting some original produce to match the current standing of the brand by the end of this decade.

The Expression

This 7yo Port Octave Caol Ila from is from the Periodical range released in the spring of 2023. I’ve written about Caol Ila many times so won’t repeat that here, but it won't surprise readers to learn that this particular release is of natural colour and is non chill-filtered. The Periodical range is North Star’s most interesting given that it comprises of small outruns made from only partially full casks. In this case just 60 bottles were produced. Everything in this range is based around the principle of three fifties – 50cl bottles, released at 50% ABV, at £50.

The 50cl point is always going to be controversial. There are plenty of voices within the whisky community that are against them as they work out at worse value for money compared to the standard 70cl. For the most part I agree with those critiques and have been delighted when the likes of Glasgow distillery and Little Brown Dog have both switched to 70cl as standard. Equally I’m not going to be spending £100 on a 50cl release from Dornoch – no matter how good their independent releases have been. But in this case I have some sympathy and are happy to support it due to the reasoning behind it.

That's because it's evident that due to the 50% strength, the Port Octave used could have had no more than 30 litres in it to begin with. Indeed, it’s likely to have been closer to 25l to allow that reduction to 50%. That means that the Octave was approximately half full, being that they tend to be between 45 and 50 litres. If these had been 70cl then the outrun would likely have been fewer than 50 bottles. A number which is likely to make the economics borderline, if not outright negative, when embedded costs are considered. Fixing the £50 price point seals the deal in this respect.

Putting this into real terms, the crunch is always going to be whether the whisky is good enough to justify these constraints, i.e. is it worth the equivalent of around £70 were it to be a standard bottle?

The Neck Pour

With that question in mind the first thing which strikes me upon opening is that classic Caol Ila oiliness on the nose. But this time it’s joined by the sweet redberry jam of the port. There’s also strong wood char along with it which strongly suggests a particularly active cask. Of course, rather than activity it could also be the higher surface area to volume ratio that’s provided by the smaller octave which has had the effect of speeding up maturation. This is a common trick used by the likes of Laphroaig and Sweden’s Mackmyra through quarter-casks. These notes are quickly followed by traditional flavours of honeycomb, burnt caramel, and just a touch of sour raspberries that act as a citrus-like cleanser.

Interestingly it’s that sourness which comes first on the palate followed by a citrus based acidity. Then comes the rich peat-smoke and char you’d expect from a Caol Ila. This develops towards a sweeter finish with the port only coming through at the very end of what is a lingering finish. In short it's all rather good.

The Body

It’s been a little over six months since I first opened the bottle and every dram has been a delight. Indeed, I’ve enjoyed it and shared it so much with friends that several of them were online immediately to get their own until North Star ran out of stock. As a result, while there may only be 60 bottles in the world, at least four of them are in the Cardiff area.

In terms of how this bottle has developed with oxidisation, the answer is not very much. In this case that’s fine given how good it is. The prime difference now on the nose is that it seems far more harmonious. The caramel has come to the front and balanced out the char. This is matched with the strong oily sweetness and jam notes.

On the palate it’s again very much like the above but the peatsmoke has developed a much more meaty 'umaminess' about it which is consistent with Caol Ila’s traditional taste profile. Again this is all very lovely and drinkable. I suspect it won’t be another six months before this is gone.

Final thoughts

I’ve eked out this little bottle for just under a year and have thoroughly enjoyed every drop. As it comes to its end it’s those sour raspberries which arrive first on the nose. What continues to be notable is the lack of alcohol burn. It’s all very sweet and harmonious. Finally what’s coming through now is a little bit of smoky bacon crisps.

The taste remains as good as ever. Classic smokiness integrated with the umami of bacon and mackerel. But it all ends with that jammy sweetness of the port. If you’re lucky enough to find this on the secondary market it’s well worth picking up!