I had high hopes for this after discovering the greatness of the 10 year old, but sadly it’s badly out of balance on the palate. The nose is wonderful: raisins soaked in orange syrup, a beech plank fresh off the grill and something meaty like truffles or fried liver. It starts off well in the mouth also, with dry orange notes, but that quickly gets swamped by a huge amount of peat. I’ve had Octomores and Supernovas that tasted less peaty, which is bizarre given how age frequently moderates the smokiness. What’s more, it’s a very one-dimensional peat, just a flatline of pepper with no nuance or depth. I didn’t think to add water to this until the very end, as it’s only 46.3% neat, but that did succeed in softening the peat and bringing it more into balance with the orange notes, so perhaps another go around with the benefit of dilution will yield a higher rating. As it stands, it’s not in the same league as the 10, despite the delightful nose.