Overpowering vegetal peat on the nose. I feel like it just burns my nose - extremely overwhelming. Sharp phenol. It smells mossy, damp, with a turnip odor. A hint of sage. Rock salt and black pepper. It's extraordinarily pungent and the scent lingers. Perhaps a hint of cabbage. Smoked fish. Iodine and antiseptic. One does not "nose" this, one endures it, in an effort to learn its secrets. On the palate- dense herbal smoke, but it's dry smoke - sage. Peat, phenol. Very strong, but considerably milder than I was expecting from nosing it. Salt and crackling white peppercorns. An unexpected hint of caramel, with cracking fresh barley, crispy salted barley crackers, a hint of shortbread - a surprising hit of Stroopwaffels. I was not at all expecting the sweeter flavors, though they are most welcome and pleasant surprise. I get the vegetal raddish/turnip flavors in the finish. The finish is extremely long - dry smoke, rock salt, sea salt, barley malt. It takes over your whole mouth and lingers like a smokey cloud over the ocean. The smoke seems like dry wood smoke as it lingers in your mouth. I also get smoked fish emerging late. It's surprisingly drinkable, provided that you like peat, given the unrelenting nasal assault. I could drink this all day - fortunately, a little goes a long way. I have been looking forward to my next bottle of Octomore since I picked up my first one last year. This one does not dissapoint!