5 years old 61.2% abv Natural color Non chill-filtered Nose: bonfire/tire fire pest smoke goodness is in effect, but behind it reveals kiwi, cider apple, hint of pineapple along with pepper, caramel and vanilla. Taste: Wow! bold, chili pepper hits immediately, building into a creamy, almost sorbet sweet fruitiness. There a hint of chocolate, too, which blends nicely. Also, sweet, sweet barley sugar and maybe a floral note, too? All in all nicely balanced and quite complex but a bit cloying for my taste. Finish: medium, lead by pepper and smoke, with vanilla and some juicy fruits (plum, pear and blackberry) rounding it out and a slight cafe mocha at the tail end. Value: at anywhere from $180-$250 dollars, I can’t say it’s worth the cost considering comparable options. Final thoughts: as this was my first Octomore, I want to rate this higher. It’s damn good. The complexity intrigued me like few other young pleated single malts. It reminds me most of Arran Machrie Moor but with way more peat. But the cost is simply too much in my opinion. And my approach to reviewing includes cost as a factor. So while it’s a better peated malt than, say, Ardbeg 10 or Kilchoman Machir Bay or most core Laphroaigs, it’s a stretch to say it’s (at least) $100 better. Final score: 3.5/5 (Recommend trying or buying a bottle at a good price. H/t to @LeeEvolved for the generous sample. Thanks for sharing with me my first taste of the vaunted Octomore!