Octomore 15.3

Octomore Series 15 Tasting, The Oak Barrel, Sydney. November 13, 2024. Whisky #5 Nose: The immediate impression is of a hot, spirity nose with an irrepressible character. This persists for a while but once the initial alcohol vapours dissipate and you can get into the nose the full beauty of the aromas is revealed. The peat is like old leather upholstery, a distant asphalt country road and the faint aroma of fragrant Turkish tobacco. Behind this are dark fruits, raspberry jam, hessian rope, marmalade, roasted nuts, malt extract and vanilla. The nose also loves water (see below). Palate: The arrival is gradual with a modest, sweet entry that is very cereal and nut focused. This sweetness transitions to a drying character with the same cereal and nut flavours gaining greater texture and definition. Over time the palate becomes almost gritty, like nutty cookie dough. Cashew butter, licorice, raspberry jubes and manuka honey appear as it develops. At the same time there is the development of considerable peat smoke. It starts off mild and demure but gradually spreads throughout the mouth gaining presence and yet remaining surprisingly delicate. The chewy cereal flavours have excellent weight and the mouth-feel is richly oily and full-bodied. Finish: Medium/Long. Dry and smoky with cereal notes fading to bittersweet coffee. 307.2ppm sounds like a monstrous amount but in reality it barely registers, particularly when the whisky is neat. Reduction does increase the smoke presence dramatically but that’s true for any high-alcohol peated whisky, and this whisky can certainly take a lot of water without any loss of balance or presence. Like the peat smoke, the interesting cereal flavours on the palate also increase as the whisky is reduced. The nose is a slow-burn experience as the alcohol has to burn off and it also needs time in the glass to unfurl. I was nosing this all through the tasting and after 90 minutes it was still developing. Adding water did absolutely no harm – in fact this whisky adores a dash of water with no plastic or rubbery notes emerging at all. The whisky I had tasted immediately before this one was the 15.2 expression. I was still so seduced by its beautiful wine-cask influenced profile and its uncanny ability to contain its alcohol presence that initially I decided this 15.3 expression was my second favourite whisky of the evening. This whisky seemed hot and difficult to penetrate at first, but then with time to explore both I realised just how elegant this expression really is and decided that it was my favourite. Even at the relatively high price I would highly recommend this whisky. It’s in the same league as the old 5.1 expression and almost equal to the 10 year old 2nd Edition. “Excellent” : 88/100 (4.5 stars)