Octomore 8 year old 8.1/167PPM
Review by Octomore
- Colour
Winter sun, crisp and bright
- Nose
Initially smoke, tar, peat ash hint of muddiness/wet peat moss. Candied orange, pepper, chocolate, macaroon, vanilla fudge and lemon meringue pie.
- Palate
Liquid gold, soft and delicate texture from slow distillation. Superb fruit/smoke combination. On the lips there is soft kiss of salt spray, ozone fresh. Sweet oak gives vanilla, fudge, marzipan and walnut. Melon and citrus come through on a floral breeze. Many layered there is a lot find in this Octomore.
- Finish
Wow! Smoothness, sweetness and then smoke. A texture like no other, satin soft and devilishly warming. The American oak influence is in perfect tune with the smoke and soft fruits delicately, skilfully coaxed from the still during exceptionally slow distillation. Vanilla, honey, citrus rise up to be met with sea spray and leather, smoked mussels mix with autumn bracken and crème brûlée.
- Conclusion
Refined, confident, a little extra age has tempered some of the vitality but this dram has gained a classic, timeless feel.
- Note
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Led by the structural brilliance of 08.1, we can pause at this symbolic moment to enjoy a single malt masterclass. The experimental ethos, the muscular quality, is still very much to the fore, but there is enlightenment now, a sure-footed confidence. 08.1 is the necessary benchmark, the launch pad from which others can only follow. 08.1 reveals the astonishing subtlety of our phenolic universe, leading us along a pathway into a world like no other.