Dreaming-of-Islay
Octomore 07.3/169 Islay Barley
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
August 15, 2017 (edited August 25, 2017)
Thanks to Telex for this sample! So I hear this is supposed to be triple the Ardbeg smoke, right? Not quite. This is a strange experience from stem to stern. In the glass there are scents that immediately remind me of baijiu (Chinese distilled liquor, made from a variety of starches, including sorghum) or a barrel-aged gin. It's botanical, but also very chalky, like kids' chewable vitamins. The peat is not ashy or smoky as I'd expect, almost like corn tortilla chips. I do get some pine and rosemary, which may be other manifestations of that heavy infusion of peat phenols. This dram tastes strange, again reminding me of a barrel-aged Old Tom gin. It's sweet, medicinal, pine and juniper-infused, and with not as much smoke -- again, a strange lack of smoke. But then I hit the finish and it billows up, in waves and waves like taking a deep pull from a robusto cigar in the middle of a forest fire. There's also some sweetness that might come from the Ribera del Duero wine barrels that Bruichladdich uses to age this scotch. Strange, bemusing, but ultimately not my cup of tea.
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@Telex - When I tried it, I thought, "Oh my God, I know this taste, I ate those vitamins for so many years!"
Cask Strength - send an email to [email protected] and let's see what we can do.
HAH! Great description of the taste with the "kids vitamins"!!! I was thinking of how to explain that, and I could just come up with "grape sass" LOL... Well, I am glad I haven't lost my mind since I am not the only one not so much into that bottle.
Sounds delicious! Too bad no one likes me enough to sample with me. :'-(