Octomore 11.3

It’s 2020. It’s December. Let’s shut this year down with a brand new whiskey (or whisky) every day. It’s my own personal whiskey advent calendar. +7! (I just learned from my daughters how advent calendars actually work.) Dec. 25, 2020 This is the true story of Milliardo’s exposure to scotch during December of 2020. I have brought all of y’all who provided kind suggestions down with me. I call this one: “Milliardo’s Song,” by Drink-182 I never thought I'd see the day My Rip Van Winkle got packed away My BTAC’s on the floor by the wall I never found a way to catch them all I took two years, then hurried up This Octomore is lurking in my cup I'm too impressed not to provide A place for my scotch collection to reside I never cracked OBSK 2019 held more bourbon days Days when I thought scotch was bland I couldn't wait to tell @Ctrexman CA still sucks, Scotland’s okay The trial was over, bourbon won the day I couldn't wait to prove to y’all Please tell @PBMichiganWolverine this is all his fault I never thought I'd drink roast beef Tell @cascode that I like the peat I made a space for Compass Box You guessed right @ContemplativeFox Still can’t pronounce: “Bunnahabhain” Thanks for the rec @Jan-Case anyway I found a home in a Dalmore cult @WhiskeyLonghorn that one is your fault I never cracked OESK I turned down Blanton’s just the other day The day I bought this 11.3 What the hell is happening to me The world is wider than KY The war is over, scotch survived Now I drink Highland Park I can blame that one on @DigitalArc Nose on this is indistinguishable from my memory of Octomore 10, but that’s not a bad thing. I wish I could compare directly. It’s tangy steak sauce, orange, brisket. This is amazing. Body follows directly from that nose. This is the most savory thing I can remember drinking. It feels thick and oily, and by the end, you can almost convince yourself there’s actual chunks of meat swirling around in there. That sounds gross, but I meant it as a compliment. Flavors are heavily smoked barbecue, steak sauce, black pepper. On occasion I can get caramel. Finish lingers. It’s that same smoked barbecue, but there’s a spicy barbecue sauce at the end now, especially on the top of your tongue. This feels like a fancy meal. I could literally drink this beast all damn day. That drink as a whole package was phenomenal. I remember feeling that way about the 10 year too, but my instincts are that this Octomore is fuller bodied in flavor and thicker in mouthfeel. This fits the flavor profile so well, that I can’t imagine Octomore 10 being as perfect on that one fact alone. Looking forward to trying the 11.1 soon, because again... what the hell did you guys do to me? In all seriousness: thanks for you named above and many others for guiding me into the scotch world this December. It’s been eye-opening and a very worthwhile endeavor, and I am very appreciative for you all! ‘Tis the season. I’m day-to-day on my whiskey selection, so if you’re reading this and there’s something readily available out there you’d like me to enjoy/suffer through this holiday season, leave it in the comments. Merry whiskey to all, and to all a beer flight!

Rating: 17/23 N: A peaty bite with smoke, but it's also light, with floral vanilla apple coming through. And pear. It has a nectar quality to it. A little roast pork with salt and a touch of black pepper. P: Big peat. It gives way to that floral vanilla apple pear flavor, then the peat comes roaring back with smoke and some black pepper. It swirls for a bit, bringing in salted roast pork, then dancing with the floral vanilla fruitiness for a bit. Digging into the peat, it's a dry bitter tartness mainly, but I get a little anise and it feels like some herbs might want to start coming out. It's a bit hot, but never harsh. As I sip this more, the salinity from the pork grows and I start to get some brine as well. F: Peat, slightly floral pear of a juicy nectar quality, and vanilla. Faint pork with salt, black pepper, and mild brine. - Conclusion - This seems like another gimmick whisky. The base distillate is good, but this is young and not all that complex. It has nice core flavors and I do enjoy the big peaty blast, but that's all there is to this. Amrut Peated (17/23) is more mature and balanced than this is, with more nuance to its character as well. That bit of roast pork here really does help, but the youthfulness here with that sweet nectar really does stand out, unfortunately reminding me a lot of Kilchoman. As a double check, I tried Laphroaig 10 (18/23) side by side with this. The Laphroaig was more muddled, but also certainly more mature and complex. Heading back down in the ratings, Nikka From The Barrel (17/23) is richer with some mellower complexity. This is more aggressive with some more campfire character. And obviously more peat. The two are not that far apart in quality though. The Shin 10 (16/23) actually seems pretty close to this. Both have a youthful sweetness to them and then something else behind them. For The Shin, it's the mizunara mostly. For this, it's that campfire and peat. Between the two, I favor this, but they really aren't that far apart. Ugh, I'm still going back and forth on these a bit. Bruichladdich Octomore 10.4 is more punch and aggressive than this is, with a bolder flavor, but also more heat. The question is now whether the comparative mellowness here is a boon or a burden. Ardbeg 10 (16/23) is more complex and mature than this is. I kind of prefer the Ardbeg at first taste. There is a lightness to the Ardbeg though that this doesn't have and the Ardbeg doesn't build in complexity in the same way. It's a tough call. This is a 16 or 17. In the end, I find it to be competitive enough with Nikka From The Barrel and Amrut Peated to earn a 17. But it's also not quite on the level of the Ardbeg 10. Though with water and time some more complexity comes out here, dragging long into the finish. Considering that, I think that this does beat the Ardbeg and this can have its (low) 17. Coming back for my final couple of sips of this, I mostly concur with my prior assessment. I'm more solidly convinced that this is a 17 now, but I'm not really wondering whether it might be an 18. Thank you, @ctbeck11 , for sharing this dram!

Nose: This does not present at all the way I would have expected - there's earth and smoke, sure. But due to the youth and resultant lower levels of brine, it's much more rich and herbal. I'm getting a distinct and soft mint and thyme. For being such high proof, this nose is very approachable - it's not taking your head off. Bready. Vanilla beans. Slightly floral and grassy, but with nothing harsh or "pokey". Pickled ginger. Very subtle honeyed grains and citrus peels. Very dense creamy - salted cultured butter comes to mind. Palate: The dense, rich, rounded earth and peat are here, and the source of that mint reveals itself in phenol - this even has a slightly mouth-numbing sensation that I would is a combo of the alcohol and phenol. Toasted, honeyed cereal grains. There's that ginger again, along with sweet orange peels, coffee, and chocolate are all on deck. Peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream and a sprig of mint. A little iodine and brine come through, though not dominating. Effervescent. Gros Michel bananas, strawberries. The balance here, for being so heavily peated, is phenomenal. The entire palate is coated in rich, oily character, with the space between the middle and back palate really light up. The alcohol provides all the "top-end", while the midrange is really what stands out here, and the foundation is all barley and peat. Meadium-heavy mouthfeel. Finish: Thick layer of ethanol, meyer lemons, earth, and smoke. Some mint ice cream. Fresh wheat bread and cream, buttered cornbread with honey - sweetend grain character with cream slowly fade in and out. Apricots and peaches also start popping in and out. Chocolate, leather, and espresso also swirl in, while the finish hangs out for a long time. Beautiful show. Other notes: I decided to pull the trigger on this bottle as my Christmas gift to myself. And I am thrilled that I did. The peat on this does not at all present the way I expected, and the youth is absolutely not a detriment to the end product. The density, richness, and depth are all excellent and deliver on exactly what the label promises: an intense experience. As I continue to let this open up in the glass, it continues to evolve and provide even more intensity, each sip building on the last, the oils adding another layer to the party. Is this for everybody? Absolutely not. But if you've got the cash and find yourself loving the more intense things Islay has to offer, I'd say go for it. This is good enough that it's tempting me to seek out others in the range, even from prior years. Or even just another bottle of this... Really fun bottle.

Every time I have an expensive whisky, I can’t help but think what my grandmother would be saying. She was born and raised for her entire life in a small rural village in North India. No electricity, no running water, no natural gas to provide heat and cooking flame, just one room hut on a family farm. You eat what you grow, sell the excess, and pray the gods of agriculture look favorably on you towards harvest season. There was also a certain ranking of grains based on utility and market value. Wheat took the top spot. So, I can only imagine what she’d say when a family member buys a $250 bottle of whiskey ( although in this case, I admit, it’s a $10 sample vial I purchased). I can imagine something like “ you paid several months of income on a bottle of alcohol?!?! Did you lose your damn mind?! And furthermore, it’s not even made from wheat...but rather barley??! And fermented??! Once you let it ferment, I can’t even feed it to my cows or chicken...it’s then just compost!!! Fuckin’ idiot with shit for brains. “. And then I’d only imagine she’d take the rubber slippers off her feet and beat me till her hands hurt. Yeah, it would go something like that. But this is what I’d tell her: Grandma—-this particular pour is amazing. You get burnt charcoal on the nose, just embers of cooked meats. On the palette, it’s like drinking roast beef stew with a slice of lemon. The flavors just integrate so well, despite only 5 years of youth. This is what the best roasted or charbroiled cuts of meat would taste like, if liquified. She’d then hit me some more, this time replacing the rubber slippers with a wooden dough roller...saying “ shit for brains village idiot...we’re vegetarians, you don’t kill the animal that provides you milk and helps plow the fields...and you made that poor beast into soup!!?? “ Yeah. It would go exactly like that. And it would be so worth that public flogging for a pour of this.

The nose rich with bold flavors starting with coffee rubbed smoked brisket, lemon gelato and burning hay bales then toasted marshmallow, dark chocolate covered almonds and seaside rocky minerality followed by sautéed cinnamon apples and candy peach rings that transitions to ginger, popsicle sticks and gauze bandages with high ethanol burn. The taste is a rich creamy mouthfeel starting with a mild spice that quickly fades to pear tarte, coffee rubbed brisket and charred lemon then dark chocolate mocha, burning hay and seaside rocky minerality followed by sautéed apples and nectarines that transitions to ginger, black pepper and gauze bandages with high ethanol burn. The finish is long with dark chocolate covered candied bacon, espresso, light ocean brine, burning hay, sautéed apples, candied lemon peel, ginger, popsicle sticks and gauze bandages that lingers for minutes. Just like the 11.1 this needed around 20 minutes to open up as the ethanol overpowers the flavors when first poured but with time and a few drops of water those intense and rich flavors emerged with earthy spice rubbed smoked meats leading followed by a candied citrus, hay, ocean brine and mild spices that carries over to the palate with a better balance than the 11.1 with a lighter spice and sweeter fruits that finishes long with candied bacon, earthy spices and sweet creamy fruits. At around $250+, this was a splurge bottle that I felt justified the cost after @ctbeck11 was kind enough to share a pour of it with me and I’d recommend anyone interested to try it before buying.

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!