2019 was a banner whiskey year for me.  I tried lots of great whiskeys, bought many fantastic bottles, and had great experiences at a variety of bars and stores.  Most importantly, I spent numerous hours of quality time sharing with and learning from so many great people here at Distiller! To start 2020 off right, I needed a strong opening act.  I've been holding a sample of the Ten Year Dialogos I received from @pbmichiganwolverine for the right occasion.  What better way to ring in the New Year? I thoroughly agree with the enthusiastic comments that proceed my review - this is a wonderfully balanced, boldly peated, and complex yet instantly enjoyable whisky. But a few personal reactions - This is my first Octomore.  Although I love peated whiskeys, the idea of a dram with approximately three times the peat PPM of Ardbeg seemed...unnecessary.  I love peat blended with other contrasting flavors, and 167 PPM sounded like pulling heaps of cold ash out of the fireplace and adding it to my morning smoothie.  But I could not have been more wrong. While it's heavily peated (from about five feet away, my wife immediately exclaimed, "peated whisky!"), it doesn't come across as more peated than the typical Ardbeg, which leaves plenty of room for the wealth of other flavors this whiskey has to offer.   To my palate, there's a real difference between the peat flavors of different whiskies.  For example, I find Laphroaig to be ashy in nature, Ardbeg to be barbeque, and Ballechin to be a thick cloud of billowing blackness.  The Ten Year Diagalos peat is a bit fiery, with a quality that is almost a bit spicy.   It's lovely.   So thank you @pbmichiganwolverine!  If the rest of 2020 is half this good, it will be an epic year!