Octomore 12.1

Strong smoke and honey/toffee on the nose. Viscous and sticky on the palate. Spicy!! Sweet, dark toffee and earthy finish. Damn. This is amazing.

Nose - Sweet campfire smoke, lactic sweetness, cracked black pepper, lemon vanilla custard, sea salt (w/ water) Rounds everything out a bit but reduces the black peppercorn vibe Taste - Intense campfire smoke, sea spray, sweet vanilla, sweet smoked cheese, cracked black pepper, light ash, hint of sweet smoked meats, almost like a cracked black peppercorn honey smoked salmon (w/ water) Smoke is reduced, increased sweetness, lactic sweet, almost smoked vanilla/honey simple syrup sweet, smoked cheese, salt increases on backend, lightly metallic Finish - Lingering salty campfire smoke, smoked sweet cheese, sweet cream, black peppercorns (w/ water) Same but less black peppercorns Score - 83/100 Final Thoughts - This one was interesting as I got to experience Octomore at its "purest" by not having any strong cask influence on the base spirit. It's quite sweet and had the lactic "funk" I typically get from Bruichladdich, but something about this just felt like this was a bit on the sweet side. This felt like the interior of the barrel was retoasted so that it was coated with sugar crystals or something as this felt quite sweet like a maple or honey smoked salmon, where there was a bit too much sugar to start and the end product was a bit more on the candied side versus a glaze. It was good, but a bit extreme on the sweet I think. If there was any way to improve this, I'd say that it was better overall without water, but a bit hot without. Sadly, the addition of a bit of water removed the interesting black peppercorn aspect of this and somehow made it taste sweeter. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Maybe Would I buy a bottle? - No NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Surprisingly light colour. Incredibly peaty. A pleasure.