My experience with Octomore 7.1 reminds me of a time as a kid when I spent most of my paper route money on a cherry bomb expecting to rock the neighborhood, but instead of a mighty blast I got a fizzler. The level of peat on the nose is faint at best and all efforts to release the peat serpent went for not. I tried the “Murray method” (neat), a few drops of water, dilute to 40%, dilute to 30%, a pile of ice, and still nothing. I then summonsed the opinions of 3 friends and we all concurred; the peat in this spirit is very subtle on both nose and palate. Despite this fact, we all further agreed this whisky to be monumental! It’s oily and smooth giving hints of honey, vanilla, and almond with a lengthy, fruity, and effervescent finish. The taste of nobility is unquestionable, but don’t expect to get punched in the face with the peat of a Lagavulin, as one friend put it. Distilleries measure and advertise phenols based on the malted barley after kilning. The new make spirit can drop to 40% of that figure in ppm, and after 10 years it can drop to 20-25%. A handful of different phenols in the spirit also change percentages during distillation and over time creating a myriad of possibilities for new offerings to the peat loving consumer. Isn’t life wonderful?