Octomore 10 yo 2008/2019 ‘3rd edition Dialogos’ (56.8%, OB, 12,000 bottles)
Colour: burnished gold. Nose: There’s this rather familiar ‘Octomorish’ note of extremely salty porridge, porridge drowned in brine along with other crisp cereals such as smoked cornflakes, bonfire ash, hot smoked salmon and many sharper mineral salt notes. There’s a rather lean and cutting antiseptic note along with coal smoke and some raw petrol. Powerful stuff but you can feel the engineering of the wood with these notes of carbon paper and pencil shavings in the background. The whole feels pretty taut and edgy. With water: much smokier. Burning grass, wood smoke, kippers, soot, sawdust and old workshops. Some heathery smoke as well which is nice. Mouth: ooft! Extremely syrupy and oily in texture but in a rather extractive way. Notes of wood glue, tar, lemon oil, some rather foggy peat smoke and smoked meats. Also these hints of rubber fisherman’s boots (I eat them often!) and things like burning hay and silage. The gumminess of the wood is too much for me I’m afraid, it feels too convoluted and aggressive. Lots of hot black pepper. With water: some salted butter, beach pebbles, more tar. We’re getting back towards a straighter Octomore profile but it’s still tough. Some wood sweetness, limoncello and general salinity. Finish: long, spicy, rather a lot of antiseptic and medical notes mixed in with some pencil shavings and iodine. Comments: I’m not a huge fan to be honest. I just don’t see why you would convolute a great distillate and its noble but fragile base ingredients with such a chorus of different wood types. I don’t get a sense of balance or cohesion. But then again, it’s not my style so please take my score with a pinch of splinters.
SGP: 677 - 77 points.