I’m in love. The peat and Sauternes casks haven’t overwhelmed each other – it’s quite sweet, but balanced by savoury, sour, and smoke. There’s such a great richness, but the finish lightens up in a pleasant and almost refreshing way. Great complexity as well, as expected from Octomore. Wise beyond its years.
Nose: Octo-magic. Savoury and salty and spiky and funky, with that familiar sour cream note. Various pork notes – prosciutto, bacon, and brown-sugar-glazed ham. Salted plantain chips, pickled lemon peel, dashi, seaweed salad, and fresh seafood. There’s definitely a heavy sweetness here – vanilla buttercream, crystallized pineapple, manuka honey, white cherries, and elderflower. Sweet sugary barley and burnt marshmallow in the middle. Uh, roast zuchinni?
Palate: Medium-oily texture. Honey-sweet and nutty barley up fruit, before the smoky blast. Plum, orange, cantaloupe, pineapple, crème brulee, nori, more prosciutto, and butter. Big medicinal smoke in the middle, smothered in honey. Honey-sweetened black tea, peach cobbler, smoked peach, and lemonade. Ajitama egg, roast fennel, toasted sesame seeds, and nutmeg on the back end.
Finish: Long, with the texture lightening up a bit. Honey, fruit cocktail syrup, sweet grapefruit, kosher salami fried in a dirty wok in the woods, brown sugar, and burnt marshmallows. Lots of cardamom and ginger, as well as nutmeg, mint, and candied flowers. Some green grape and lemon juice tartness. Pretty much a Penicillin.
