Octomore 14.4

Smoke and peat

Octomore 14 Series Tasting, The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 21 February 2024. Whisky #6 Nose: A huge, expansive, buttery, floral (vanilla) nose with acres of warm, rich peat smoke hanging like black velvet drapes in the background. Lemon and orange peel, pineapple chunks grilled on a barbecue. The expressions we tasted before this elicited a feeling of “hmm, yes that’s nice” but this one instantly made me say out loud “oh yes! – that’s it!” Palate: Full, sweet cereal arrival. Malted milk, caramel sauce, soft peat smoke, apricots, peaches, sweet nectarines and plums. The texture is genuinely creamy and lip-smacking. Adding a little water expands the cereal qualities and develops flavours of popcorn and puffed wheat flakes. Finish: Long. Soft and sweet, trailing into an immense smoky blanket. This whisky has excellent persistence. This was without question my favourite whisky of the evening. Until we tried it, I had thought the 14.3 to be the best of this year’s releases, but this is in a whole different class. It is “big” in the same way a well matured fine Châteauneuf-du-Pape is “big”. It has authority and enormous presence but the distillate shines through with crystal clarity. The experiment with Colombian virgin oak casks has paid off in spades and I would love to try more examples of Octomore matured in such a manner. It did not require any water and is soft and drinkable neat (at 59.2%). Water does, however, release greater smoke and improves the already excellent texture, making it like fine satin. This is the closest thing I’ve tasted to the magisterial Octomore 10 year old 2nd Edition. It is only available directly from the distillery, but at £175.00 it is a steal. Bottles are still available and I would heartily recommend it to any Octomore or Port Charlotte enthusiast. It is very close to 5 stars. “Excellent” : 89/100 (4.75 stars)