2020 has been complete crap, but the whisky world must go on. And on that note, if anything can save us, it's gotta be peat. Nose - The bourbon dominance here stands out. Sweet sweet sweet malt, overwhelmingly vanilla dominate. From there I get that classic octomore barely, and then clay putty and dirt from the peat. This isn't complex at all, it's very simple. It's however really nice. As it opens up I get some kind of baked bread...not a fancy note by any way but that's what it is. Perhaps not fully cooked and you might even have a sugar cookie with frosting on it. It's all vanilla and mellow peat. Taste - The flavor follows the nose with just a dominate sweetness here. There is more bitterness from the oak, something I never see with octomore, There's alcohol as well, very sparky but not off putting. The flavor is again that vanilla bomb, but it's moving to these minty and oaky notes, nice charcoal, and maybe even a smoked mash mellow. I gotta say, this is my new favorite octomore. It's killing it. It isn't mind blowingly complex, but it's well well worth the price. I'm going 3.75 here. It's awesome.