Octomore 10 Year Dialogos Third Edition (2017 Release)

Fantastic!

Nose: Campfire smoke immediately comes out with hints of butter and oil. Thre cognac brings about pineapple and plantain mix with black tea leaves and dark red apples. An industrial scent, similar to the smell of a permanent marker lingers. Palate: Peat goes without saying, but with an ashy complement. Cola syrup follows through with bitter dark chocolates and tobacco leaves. Much less oily than the nose let's on with leathery notes and the the typical bruicchladich blue cheese. Chili flakes and cinnamon become apparent. The fruits are admittedly more difficult to pick out, but sultanas and apricots linger slightly. Finish: Very long-lasting with the dark chocolate notes lasting along with cigar and smoke.

This bottle was opened as part of our 10th event anniversary of our scotch club @AOrlando @adesor @Grex89 @adimassimo. This bottle was relabelled as 57.6% when purchased at the SAQ (Quebec). Nose: Light campfire smoke Oily Buttery Pineapple Ardbeg Mint Herbs Blue cheese Palate: Tobacco Campfire smoke Leather Vanilla syrup Concentrated peat (...after a couple of drops) Chocolate Liquorice Finish: Long Liquorice Cognac Vanilla

Nose - medicinal - oily - light campfire smoke - rosemary - caramel - sweet wine - maple syrup - vanilla bean - cigar tobacco - custard pastry - buttery - sherry - blueberry - dried raisin - cognac - blue cheese - apricot - sauternes cask - light lime Palate - cognac - spicy - wine cask - medicinal peat - processed syrup - raisin - brown sugar - dry - chilli flake - apricot

2019 was a banner whiskey year for me.  I tried lots of great whiskeys, bought many fantastic bottles, and had great experiences at a variety of bars and stores.  Most importantly, I spent numerous hours of quality time sharing with and learning from so many great people here at Distiller! To start 2020 off right, I needed a strong opening act.  I've been holding a sample of the Ten Year Dialogos I received from @pbmichiganwolverine for the right occasion.  What better way to ring in the New Year? I thoroughly agree with the enthusiastic comments that proceed my review - this is a wonderfully balanced, boldly peated, and complex yet instantly enjoyable whisky. But a few personal reactions - This is my first Octomore.  Although I love peated whiskeys, the idea of a dram with approximately three times the peat PPM of Ardbeg seemed...unnecessary.  I love peat blended with other contrasting flavors, and 167 PPM sounded like pulling heaps of cold ash out of the fireplace and adding it to my morning smoothie.  But I could not have been more wrong. While it's heavily peated (from about five feet away, my wife immediately exclaimed, "peated whisky!"), it doesn't come across as more peated than the typical Ardbeg, which leaves plenty of room for the wealth of other flavors this whiskey has to offer.   To my palate, there's a real difference between the peat flavors of different whiskies.  For example, I find Laphroaig to be ashy in nature, Ardbeg to be barbeque, and Ballechin to be a thick cloud of billowing blackness.  The Ten Year Diagalos peat is a bit fiery, with a quality that is almost a bit spicy.   It's lovely.   So thank you @pbmichiganwolverine!  If the rest of 2020 is half this good, it will be an epic year!

The Santa chronicles #3. A long long time ago (last xmas to be exact) a young girl at the tender age of 5 asked her dad why the presents from Santa said 'Made in China'. Ah said the man its because Chinese elves are cheaper than those in the North Pole. "How does Santa get the presents if they are in China" she asked do the reindeer fly there to pick them up? No said the man due to the worldwide postal union it is very cheap to ship from China to the North Pole. A great man called Trump who will make things great again (except if you are Mexican, an immigrant or basically anyone who doesn't love country music) is going to sort it out so reindeer can fairly compete in international shipping again. "Why do you say he is a great man?" asked the girl "as you always swear at the tv and call him a useless idiot?". Ah said the man it's like when your mother says that to your daddy...she's showing how much she loves him. The girl persisted "If shipping is so cheap from China why dont they ship it to us instead of the North Pole" said the girl. At this point the man realised that perhaps he wasn't smarter than a 5 year old so he did what all good dad's do in this situation and patted her on the head and said "Isn't it time for tv"? He then went to his man den and celebrated his wisdom and parenting skills with a whiskey. It was a good whisky but not as awesome as this whisky. Finally said the man an Octomore deserving of the price. Fantastically balanced and with an aftertaste longer than a supermodels legs. Once again the man gave praise to Santa aka @PBMichiganWolverine for an awesome xmas present and went to bed dreaming of what the next night would bring.