Oh, my Lord. My wife and I, and some friends, went to Miami Whiskey Mash earlier this month and got to try some drams of this whisky. To be honest, before this event, I was wondering what all the Octomore hype was about. My initial encounter with Octomore was the 07.3, which I did not particularly enjoy, finding its flavor profile so strange that it almost didn't feel like a whiskey to me but more like a barrel-aged gin. That really put me off this series, given its high cost and rarity. Why hunt for something like that? Well, mea culpa, now I have my answer. Octomore 06.3 is a tour de force of a peated whisky, and famously was the peatiest scotch on the market before Bruichladdich outdid themselves recently with several outlandish releases in the 8th series. Experiencing the peat of Octomore 06.3 is like hearing Beethoven's 5th for the first time: wave after wave of pure, unadulterated power. The hair was growing on my chest, my voice was deepening . . . like a 5-minute accelerated puberty redux, minus the acne and the intense awkwardness with girls. Rich Cuban cigar smoke, freshly burnt-out candles, but balanced by -- actually, it's not much balanced out by anything. And I love it. The asphalt or rubber notes that feature in Lagavulin show up here as well, and there's some of that earthier or mossier peat. It's a showcase for just about every flavor an enthusiast can find in a peated whisky. Definitely the winner of the festival, by far, and one of my top three whiskies of all time.